Too Huge To Be True
by The Midnight Man
Summary: Chip 'n Dale Rescue RangersTaleSpin crossover. As the consequence of a TaleSpin marathon on TV, Gadget dreams herself and her Ranger friends to Cape Suzette—and not only them. Written from April 1 to May 21, 2006 premiered at the Acorn Café. R&R.
1. Preface and Chapter 1

**Too Huge To Be True**

_Written by the Midnight Man, 2006_

**Preface**

What happens in Gadget Hackwrench's nightly dreams? What does she dream of? And most of all: What kind of dreams is that high-performance brain of hers capable of generating?

Many a Gadgephile may have asked himself—or, in some rare cases, herself—these or similar questions.

This story tries to give some answers to them—and to the question if Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers can be crossed over with TaleSpin. The latter is a famous and highly credited cartoon not only in Real Life, but also in the Rangerverse. And an eight-hour marathon of Baloo's adventures in the skies of the past leaves its traces in Gadget's mind the night after. Not even she is immune against such influences.

The really interesting aspect about Gadget's dreams is that she sometimes creates her own little universes while dreaming. In these universes, there is more happening than she could ever observe from her point of view since she herself is never more than just a character like everyone else. These dreams of Gadget's are like a web made of separate plot lines which sooner or later start to interact. And this is what makes them so realistic. Nevertheless, it is the nature of a dream that it will hardly ever be absolutely realistic, so weird things keep occurring. Weird things such as the Rangers finding themselves in TaleSpin's seaside metropolis Cape Suzette. And although Gadget will do her best to cope with this situation, she will never have the whole plot being spun in her head under control. Especially because she sees only a fraction of it.

But to you, the reader, the following story reveals much more.

* * *

**Chapter 1: I Dream Of The Cape**

The TaleSpin marathon had ended just some minutes ago. Gadget was in her room, in her nightgown, and ready to go to sleep. Though she had needed some audio-visual entertainment as a distraction, and though she rarely was in such a happy mood at that time of the day, she felt like eight hours of TaleSpin had been a bit too much. That day's only case had been solved before noon, so the Rangers had taken off the afternoon and evening and spent it watching the adventures of Baloo and his famous seaplane. Plunder And Lightning had started right after lunch, and as For Whom The Bells Klang had been over, only a short timespan had separated the day from this attribute. And now Gadget caught herself gently dancing to the theme song which was still stuck in her head. Immediately, she stopped and shook her head to try and turn the music loose.

She moved over to the window and took a look outside at the park lying there in the darkness. Spring had just started to fight the old winter out of the city, but it had a hard time. She sighed and wished the Big Apple had the same wonderful climate as Cape Suzette. And again, she had to remind herself that there was no such place in reality as Cape Suzette.

'Golly,' she thought, 'I should really try to sleep and above all get this stuff off my mind now.'

Hoping that sleep will free her from Baloo and his friends, she laid down on her bed, turned to the portrait of her father on her nightstand and caressed it.

"Good night, Daddy."

It often raised sad memories in her which sometimes even made her cry and hold the picture tight as if it was Geegaw himself. But tonight she wanted it to distract her from today's distraction. She went on looking at it.

All of a sudden, Baloo appeared in the picture. He shook hands with Geegaw, put his right hand on his shoulder and raised his left thumb as if to say, "Look here, Gadget, your father was one of the greatest pilots ever."

Gadget shook her head again, took another look—Baloo had disappeared even more quickly than he had appeared—and turned around towards the wall so she couldn't see the picture anymore. But her mind went on mixing her thoughts and memories with the flying bear's world in short dream sequences. In one of them she found herself on the co-pilot's seat of an aircraft with Geegaw as the pilot. She enjoyed the flight and helped her father until she recognized that it wasn't the Screamin' Eagle. Somehow, the cockpit had grown. Instead of a canopy, it had a real roof, and instead of the back seats, it had a rear wall with a door in it. There was no propeller on the nose of the plane. And the Screamin' Eagle shouldn't emit this roaring piston engine sound. She looked to the sides and saw radial engines mounted in shoulder wings. And she recognized that she and her father were in fact on board of the Sea Duck before she woke up from her slumber.

'Now, this is gonna be a tough night. I hope it's not.'

For a while, she lay there and stared at the blank wooden wall beneath her bed. But she couldn't keep her eyelids up forever, and after a time, a deep sleep came over her.

As she opened her eyes again, her surroundings had undergone some radical changes. She was sitting in a seat in some vintage passenger airplane, and with her were her friends, the Rescue Rangers. Monterey Jack was sitting on the aisle seat next to her holding Zipper, and Chip and Dale were on the seats in front of them. The seat belts were fastened, so the plane was obviously about to touch down. The rising sun shone through Gadget's window making it hard to recognize what was outside. Nevertheless she saw that there was no sign of any city architecture. She wondered where she was.

"Crikey! Now look who's finally awake!"

Monty smiled at her and went on, "G'morning, Gadget luv!"

"Oh, good morning, Monty, good morning, Zipper!"

The two chipmunks lifted their heads over the seats, smiled and said in unison, "Good morning, Gadget!"

"Good morning, guys. Say, this question may sound stupid, but where are we?"

"Ha-haaa," Monty laughed, "we're almost there! Look, the plane's touchin' down now!"

Gadget's second glance out of her window revealed that there was nothing but water beneath the aircraft. For a moment, she held her breath. The touchdown sounded like on water, it felt like on water, but the plane did not start to sink. It was obviously constructed to float, this fact relieved her.

"Golly, this is a seaplane?"

"Fer sure! Seaplanes an' ships are the only ways ta get 'ere."

A place that can only be reached by seaplane? Before Gadget could start to think about it, the plane landed at a wooden pier, and for the first time she could see the city with its impressive skyline.

'Where have I seen this city before? And how can it be that hard to get here?'

After the engines were shut down, the doors were opened, and the Rangers got out of the plane. It was the very morning of a warm summer day, the fresh air was filled with slight smells of the sea and burnt high-octane fuel partly being blown out by the passenger seaplane whenever they were leaving town again. Gadget took a look around. Before her was a metropolis, partly built onto a steep slope which rose up to a mountain range. Behind her was a large bay surrounded by high cliffs. Could that be? Was she really in that city? Had she really been wrong when she thought this place was but a piece of fiction? It was Monty again who answered her questions.

"So, everybody—welcome ta Cape Suzette!"


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

**Chapter 2: Where The Rangers Are Strangers**

"Cape Suzette. One o' the few places in the world where I 'aven't been yet an' where I always wanted ta go. An' finally we're 'ere, mates."

By now Gadget recognized some more things. First of all, she was about three quarters as tall as a human, and so were Chip and Dale, Monty had almost normal human size, and even Zipper seemed to have grown. They were no more vermin, they were part of the society now. Then she noticed a few cars standing around. Either people preferred old-timers here, or the regional automobile industry had not developed for about 70 years—or the Rangers had traveled back in time to the late 1930s. But what struck her most was that there were obviously no humans in this city; the few inhabitants walking past on this early morning were all animals of numerous species.

'Well, at least this makes us as normal as anyone else.'

Slowly, the idea came to her mind that she might be dreaming. Everything was so unreal, so far from what she considered common.

"I already love this city," she heard Chip say, "just think about the adventures that are waiting for us here. Unsolved cases..."

Monty interrupted him. "Chip, ya do know that we're on vacation 'ere, don't ya?"

"Yes," Dale added, "I don't wanna work in my holidays."

"So, Dale," Chip asked his best friend, "what would you like now?"

"Breakfast."

"Great idea, me lad. Who's gonna pay?"

Pay? Should that mean that the Rangers needed money? They never had to pay for anything in their lives, and they never even were in possession of notable amounts of valid money. However, this morning was so strange that Gadget checked the pockets of her overalls, just in case. But she found none like she had expected.

"I don't have any money. Has anyone of you guys?"

Neither the chipmunks nor Zipper carried any cash with them. So since Monty came up with the paying issue, maybe he had some.

Gadget asked him, "Monty, do you at least have any money?"

"You mus' be jokin', Gadget! I'm a mouse! Since when do mice need cash?"

"Since we are in Cape Suzette, since we are as tall as Cape Suzette's citizens, and since we have to live in their society! By the way, you should have known that we'd have to pay for everything here, so why did you ask that stupid question? Or was that a joke from you?"

"No joke, lass. I jes' 'oped that anyone of us, not countin' me, is wealthy enough ta pay fer our breakfast."

"Golly, this holiday is really startin' out great. Anyone got an idea how we can get along now? By the way, where's Zipper?"

"Zipper's flyin' 'round town," Monty answered, "'e said 'e's gonna look fer somethin' that may be 'elpful fer us."

Now this had to be a dream. Gadget was sure that there couldn't be any other explanation for this weirdness. Even Monty wouldn't go on any kind of adventure that unprepared. But hey, she and her friends were on vacation, the sun was to shine all day long, a fresh and warm sea breeze was softly blowing around them, and after all, it was obviously a dream, so this little problem shouldn't spoil all this.

Meanwhile, Zipper had been flying around Cape Suzette for a little while when he spotted a building by the seaside he knew quite well now. It was a wooden tower-like structure owned by some air cargo company. A pier was leading away from the tower, a yellow seaplane was lying at its side, and at its end was a sign. Zipper flew a bit farther offshore to see the seaside of the sign, and from over the water he read the name of the company: HIGHER FOR HIRE.


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

**Chapter 3: Limited Space, Limited Time**

Baloo and Rebecca left the Higher For Hire building having a dispute about the next delivery.

"Becky, that's an awful lot of cargo. How do you think I can stuff it all into the Sea Duck at once?"

"Well, I thought it would fit into the Sea Duck when you unpacked it."

"Unpack it? Do you really suppose I fly a planeful of expensive plates and cups and glasses and all that around without any packaging? It's impossible to secure it all so that nothing could ever break! Y'know, these big cardboard boxes are there for a reason!"

"Okay, okay, you're right, that was a stupid idea. ... Now, couldn't you fly twice?"

"Nader's Hall is too far away, Becky. Even if I started now with one half of the cargo which isn't even here yet, I wouldn't manage to deliver the second half before the end of the dinner, let alone before the dinner itself, and the two of us wouldn't be there before the next morning. Any suggestions from you, Wildcat?"

Wildcat was busy maintaining the Sea Duck's engines. Baloo had told him the evening before what Higher For Higher had to lose with this delivery job, so he did what he could to keep the plane from failing.

"Er, yes, Baloo! Let's paint the propellers red. That would look really fine."

"I meant our little cargo problem!"

"Ah. Okay! Let's paint the cargo red. That would look really fine."

"Wildcat!"

"What's the problem, Baloo? Have we run out of red paint?"

"The problem... the problem is that a whole lot of cargo is gonna be delivered here in about two hours. It's the dishes for tonight's Trader's Ball at Nader's Hall. And it's Higher For Hire's job to get it there. And it won't fit into the Sea Duck all at once."

And though he felt like he would regret it, he went on asking, "Do you happen to have any clue how to haul everything to Nader's Hall in time?"

"Yes, I could take a looooong rope, tie the boxes together that don't fit inside, mount little wings on the boxes, and you'd tow them."

"I know you could, and we've done that before, but I don't wanna do that with such a precious, fragile, and most of all important freight. It's so important because Becky and I are gonna be at the Trader's Ball tonight ourselves. Becky wants to lure some orders from high-society customers again. Business as usual, y'know. And that'll only work when we're known as having supplied Trader's Ball, and surely not when we're known as having spoiled Trader's Ball."

"Okay, so no towing. What about repairing the overdrives? Then you'd be faster, and you can fly twice!"

"You can't repair the overdrives. It was you who said that it's impossible, and you'd already done it if you could. Besides, even if you repaired them, they'd make me faster for no more than ten seconds before frying them again, and maybe even the engines with them. No, there are only two ways out: either a bigger plane or a second plane. Unfortunately I don't know where to get either of them."

"Why don't you take the Spruce Moose? It's got a huuuuuge cargo space!"

"Great idea, Wildcat, I'm gonna steal a ballroom to supply another ballroom."

"Are you? Okay, problem solved!"

"No, of course I'm not! No, we must find another cargo pilot who can help us. But we need one who doesn't run his own business, otherwise we'd lose to much money, let alone new customers."

Zipper had followed the entire discussion. He decided to tell the Rangers about it. The Rangers helped where help was needed, and Higher For Hire was urgently in need of help without any doubt. He knew that the Rangers had never done that before, but it couldn't be that hard, and he also knew where to get a cargo plane. He had seen one for sale. Now it was his turn at last to have a plan. He took off from his hiding and flew back to the pier where his friends were still waiting.


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

**Chapter 4: When Legends Meet**

Monty was the first to see Zipper come back.

"Look who's back from 'is sightseein' tour! Seen some interestin' sights, mate?"

Zipper took a deep breath before he told the others what he had seen and what his plan was. Being the leader of the Rescue Rangers, Chip had to approve it.

"Well, Zipper, it's fine that it's you for a change who comes up with a plan. But I doubt that it'll work. How can we buy that old plane when we don't even have any money for breakfast?"

Gadget was on Zipper's side. "I think it should work."

"Be careful, Chip," Monty reminded him, "she said 'should'."

Despite Monty's warning, Chip was curious. "How should it work, Gadget?"

"When we go and offer Baloo our help, we'll ask him for some payment in advance. He'll have to choose between paying and not being able to deliver, so we should get the money. I'll buy the old plane from a part of it, and we'll have breakfast from the rest."

"Agreed. Let's try it," Chip decided.

"Chip, she said that word again."

"I know, but it's our only plan unless you've got a better one."

"No..."

"So, what are we waiting for? Rescue Rangers, away!"

And off they went, heading for the Higher For Hire office in which Baloo, Rebecca, and Wildcat were still trying to find a solution for their problem with cargo space—or rather the lack thereof. And it still seemed inevitable to get an additional aircraft for cheap within not much more than one hour.

"Becky, we can't do this job with only one plane."

"Right, Ms. Cunningham, we can't tow the boxes, we can't strap them upon the Sea Duck, we can't strap them under the Sea Duck..."

"Yes, yes, I've understood it by now. But another pilot means higher costs or even sharing our revenues and our reputation with him. And time is running away. Where do you think we could find a freight pilot now?"

"I'm fully aware that there won't just one come knockin' on our door and say, 'Here I am'..."

Baloo's words were interrupted by a knocking on the door.

"Come in!" he shouted. "Especially when you happen to be a freight pilot!"

The door opened, and in came two chipmunks, two mice, and an unusually large fly. Despite their appearance as a weird bunch, they gave a friendly impression by the way they smiled at the Higher For Hire crew.

Chip tried to make a start. "Good morning!"

"Good morning!" came back from Rebecca, and she added, "What can we do for you?"

"No," Chip answered, "the question is what we can do for you."

"Do for us?"

"Yes. My name is Chip Maplewood, and these are Dale Oakmont, Gadget Hackwrench, Monterey Jack Colby and Zipper Lightringer. We are the Rescue Rangers, and we help those who need help." Since they were "big", Chip preferred using the full names.

"Ah, welcome to our little but upcoming air cargo service. I am Rebecca Cunningham, Higher For Hire's CEO, this is Baloo, our pilot, and this is our mechanic, Wildcat."

Dale was about to say that he already knew them, but fortunately, Baloo was faster with asking, "So, in which way do you think you can help us?"

"Well, we heard that you're looking for a cargo pilot and plane."

"That's right, Mr. Maplewood..."

"Oh, please call me Chip."

"Chip, okay. So, Chip, do you believe there are enough pilot skills wrapped in that aviator jacket to support us?"

"As a matter of fact," Gadget answered, "he's not our pilot. I am."

"You?!" Baloo couldn't believe what he saw and heard. A mouse girl, seemingly trying to look like something between a pilot and a mechanic, claimed to be the ace of the skies that Higher For Hire needed. Surely, she was cuter than almost any woman Baloo had ever met, and he had met many cuties so far, but that didn't qualify her picture for being pinned to Louie's Wall of Fame billboard. "Aw, c'mon! I've dealt with a lot of female pilots. I've even experienced Rebecca flying the Sea Duck. But it's just too hard to imagine you as a cargo pilot."

He shouldn't have said this, because he heard the slightly enraged voice of his boss say, "Baloo! Do you have any problems with women's flying skills in general or my flying skills in particular? I've proved that I can fly the Sea Duck!"

"Calm down, Becky. I do have my problems with certain female pilots, but none of them is here at this moment. So if you want, let's give 'em a try." Baloo turned back to Chip and asked him, "Now, how much do you demand for two five-hour flights, one of them with cargo?"

"How much would you pay us?"

Baloo whispered over his shoulder, "Say something, Becky! I'm not the businessman here!"

Rebecca had already recognized that she was dealing with amateurs. Trying to keep her expenses low, she displayed as an offer, "Are $500 okay?"

"Becky! We're earning $14,000 with this job! Not to count the priceless advertising within your preferred clientele! And think about what professionals would cost!"

"Okay. $1000. My last offer."

Chip whispered to Monty, "Even after buying that plane, it's still more than enough for our vacation! Come on, we make that deal!"

The Rangers' leader walked up to Rebecca's desk, accompanied by the Aussie mouse. "Agreed. $1000. Let's say, $250 now, and the rest when Gadget's back here."

"We shall pay you in advance?"

"Lis'n, lady," Monty told her, "ya can also 'ave yer cargo 'auled on the backs o' some elephants if ya prefer that."

Without saying a word, Rebecca got the money out of her desk and handed it to Chip.

"Thanks, you won't regret it," he replied. "We'll be back in an hour then."

While the Rangers were leaving the office, Baloo asked doubtingly, "Wait, you do have a cargo seaplane, don't you?"

Gadget stopped in the door, turned around and answered, "Not yet, but soon!"

Baloo walked over to Wildcat and said, "I doubt that we'll see them or the money again."

"You know, Baloo, that blond mouse reminds me of Maxine."

"Who's Maxine?"

"A lobster."


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

**Chapter 5: Ol' Rufus**

"Wildcat, gimme my binoculars. Gotta see where they've gone."

Wildcat took a pair of binoculars out of a closet and passed them to Baloo who immediately ran out of the front door, Wildcat following him.

"Uh-huh, they're standin' in front of the Octane Café now."

Dale was not satisfied with the outcome of this morning. "I told you I don't wanna work in my holidays!"

"Golly, what a pity," Gadget said and smiled that certain smile, "I'll need a co-pilot for that flight."

"Now that's somethin' entirely different! I'll gladly be your co-pilot! Can I?"

Chip didn't want Dale to get away with Gadget that easy. "I believe I'd be a much better co-pilot than Dale! Take me instead, Gadget!"

"I've asked her first!"—"Oh yes?!"—"Yes! Stand in line 'til it's your turn!"

"'ey, lads!" Monty grabbed them by their collars and pulled them away from each other before they could even start another one of their typical chipmunk-style arguments. "Who do ya think is gonna unload the plane? That stuff's gonna be 'eavy fer sure!"

Reminded of this, both chipmunks froze immediately and looked up to the Aussie mouse. "Oh..."

"Besides, I've spent more time o' my life in cockpits than the two o' ya together. An' I used ta be Geegaw's co-pilot on many a flight. So who's gonna be 'is daughter's co-pilot?"

"Alright, you've won," Chip gave in. "Now let's talk about the money."

He took the cash from the inner pocket of his bomber jacket and gave $200 to Gadget. "This is for the plane. The rest should be more than enough for breakfast and lunch."

Over at Higher For Hire, Wildcat asked, "Hey, Baloo, what are they doin' now?"

"That Chip guy has just handed the pilot mouse some money. And now they're entering the Café."

"Do you think she'll buy a plane from that money?"

"That's ridiculous, Wildcat. There's only one cargo seaplane for sale at such a low price in Cape Suzette. That's Ol' Rufus' Conwing. And you know why Rufus hasn't managed to sell his Conwing in six years now."

"Is white out of fashion?"

"No, Wildcat, this plane is more a pile o' junk than a plane. Only a complete fool or a mechanical miracle healer outskillin' you countless times would buy it and expect it to fly. Not only the engines are run down beyond repair. I wonder if anything on this thing is still in working order, and be it the door hinges."

After a while, the Rangers left the Café and went over to Ol' Rufus, still unaware of any of their steps being watched by a bear with a pair of binoculars. Rufus lived in a kind of wooden booth attached to his pier, right before where the old aircraft was lying. Gadget knocked at his door, and everybody waited until a more than aged gray wolf opened. It was clear to see why he was called Ol' Rufus, and his days as a cargo pilot were long gone.

"Whatchya want?"

"Good morning, Mr. Rufus. I'd like to buy your plane."

Rufus glared at her in disbelief. "Kiddin'?!"

"No, really."

"You must be kiddin', young lady. You can only be kiddin'. I've been tryin' to sell that piece o' junk for... wait... six years now. It has always been impossible to find another plane that cheap, and it still is today. But no-one wanted to have her. And now you come here and say you're gonna buy her?"

"Yes! Believe me, I want to buy that plane. I can pay cash right now."

"Ah, cash is always good." This one word seemed to have convinced him. He had to be careful not to go broke, now that he was out of business.

Gadget got out the money and gave it to Rufus who in turn handed her the keys to the old seaplane.

"So, now it's yours, young lady. Whatchya gonna do with her? Have her tugged elsewhere and live in her? Salvage parts from her to repair another plane? Or use her as a trainin' target for the guns of Cape Suzette?"

Rufus referring to the old seaplane as a female slightly irritated Gadget. "No, Mr. Rufus, I'd like to fly it."

"Wha... didya say 'fly'?"

"Yes, why not?"

Rufus started laughing so hard he could hardly hold himself upright on his walking stick. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You musta stayed too long in the sun yesterday, young miss! 'Fly'!"

"What's the problem, Mr. Rufus?"

"The problem? The problem, as you call it, is that you've just bought a complete wreck! I don't think that any technical device within that ol' bird is in workin' condition! See, it's a wonder that she's still floatin'!"

"Oh, I'm sure I can fix it, whatever it is. May I borrow your tools, please?"

"Sure." Rufus went into his booth, mumbling, "She wanna fix it. Huh. I'd like to see that."

A minute later, Rufus returned with a tool box in his hand. Gadget took it, and Monty helped her up onto the wings where she could take a look at the engines. And Baloo still had his eyes on them.

"What... Wildcat, I can hardly believe it, but it looks like you're right."

"Oh, thanks, Baloo! Er... I'm right with what?"

"They've actually bought that Conwing from Ol' Rufus!"

"With the two severe engine damages?"

"Exactly, why do you ask?"

"It seems like... May I have the binoculars?"

Baloo handed them to his mechanic.

"Yes, she's just started both engines."

"Has done what?"

"Here, look!" Wildcat gave Baloo the binoculars back, and the bear couldn't believe his own eyes. He hadn't seen REV-1s run for years, and he couldn't remember having seen this pair of REV-1s run ever. And if that wasn't enough, he saw the mouse he considered a wannabe pilot sitting in the cockpit and testing the rudders—each one of which was working again, too. The old Conwing L-16 still was no beauty, but it gave an impression of being ready for take-off at any time.

After the tests, Gadget stuck her head out of the cockpit window.

"It should work with no problems now. Little test flight, anyone?"

Monty shrugged, and so did Zipper and the chipmunks. She used both "should" and "no problems" in connection with an invitation to a test flight on the device which, as she said, "should" work with "no problems". That was the way nightmares usually started.

"No, thanks, Gadget luv, not that soon after breakfast."

"Why not, Monty?"

"Errrr... weight reduction. Keep 'er lightweight on 'er first flight."

"Okay, I think I don't need a co-pilot as long as I stay within the cliffs. See you!"

Monty watched her take off, hoping that both the mouse and the plane will return safe and sound, while Baloo watched her take off, still not believing what he saw.


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

**Chapter 6: To The Cargo**

No other aircraft in Cape Suzette was airborne while the old white Conwing L-16 performed its kind of second maiden voyage above the bay. It was its first flight for many years, and it was the pilot's first flight on a real airplane since she crashed the Screamin' Eagle. She had to get used to the size, the weight and the speed of a cargo seaplane and to not flying a VTOL craft like those she had built herself. Apart from that, she was piloting a plane with combustion engines for the very first time in her life. So she made the Conwing touch down on the water and take off again several times to get a feeling for it, and she managed to do it softer and smoother with every time the old bird got water contact. Everything she had learned on the Ultra-Flight prototype came back to her mind.

After a few minutes, she felt secure enough to fly back to the pier. When her friends saw the Conwing approach the wooden construction, their flight instinct kicked in, and Chip, Dale and Monty ran for their lives to have something other than wood under their feet, whereas Zipper rose up high in the air not to be hit by any pier or aircraft debris.

However, there was no reason to panic. Gadget's landing was near perfect. She stopped at the pier, let the engines run at idle, and called her friends back.

"Look, guys! It does work with no problems! Now, who'd like to hitch a ride over to Higher For Hire?"

It was then that the male Rangers started to realize how well pilot and plane had performed over the bay. The white Conwing had resembled a gull up there. An old gull, but still a gull. So they decided not to walk.

"Yer crew's with ya, Gadget luv," Monty shouted as he and his friends walked back onto the pier and over to the plane. When everybody was on board, Monty shut and locked the door and sat down on the co-pilot's seat, Chip and Dale took their places in the small passenger area right behind the cockpit, and Gadget slightly revved up the engines and made the Conwing cruise over to Higher For Hire without taking off.

Meanwhile, the cargo had arrived and was ready to be loaded on board of the two cargo planes. Rebecca found her pilot still standing in front of the building and watching the Rangers with his binoculars.

"Baloo," she said with a kind voice, "I'm sorry to interrupt you," and turned into a much more earnest tone saying, "but the cargo is here and waiting to be shipped." She went on whispering, "And I don't want Wildcat to do that, I think you can imagine why."

"Alright, Becky," Baloo answered and put the binoculars down, "I'll get this done."

Muttering, "I still can't believe what this mousie has done with Ol' Rufus' wreck," he climbed into the Sea Duck, put his binoculars into the cockpit, opened the cargo door, and started carrying the boxes on board with the most carefulness he could achieve. While busy securing the first boxes in the cargo compartment, he heard the sound of a plane coming in from outside. It was the same sound the Sea Duck had produced before she had been turned into the Sea Duck, before she had received her Superflight engines. There was only one aircraft in Cape Suzette with working REV-1 engines, and these engines were miles away from working condition less than half an hour ago.

His curiosity about whether he heard what he thought he heard drove Baloo ahead into the cockpit. And there he saw it through the windscreens. A second Conwing L-16 lay nose to nose with the Sea Duck, just a few feet away. It was not as souped up as his baby, it didn't wear any fancy colors, and it didn't do any effort to show its age with its worn-out white paint covered with whatever dirt it was able to pick up over six years of lying at the same place. And nonetheless, it had not been pushed or tugged to where it was now; Baloo could watch the propellers stop spinning.

Although he had seen the Rangers take that plane over, the engines run, and the whole plane fly about over the bay, and although it had landed at Higher For Hire's pier, he could still not believe his very eyes yet, so he got off the Sea Duck, just in time to see those who called themselves the Rescue Rangers leave their aircraft.

Gadget's way of parking the plane didn't satisfy Monty completely as he pointed out while getting off.

"Nothin' against yer flyin' skills, lass, but next time turn 'er 'round so I can get the freight on board more easily. The rear door's there fer a reason."

"Golly, I'm sorry, Monty, but this is my first job as a freight pilot."

"Ah, you're back to pick up the cargo," Baloo greeted the bunch of five as they came towards him. "And Gadget, I must admit that was incredible what you've done."

"Why? What have I done?"

"You've turned Ol' Rufus' Conwing from a wreck back into an airplane within almost no time. Even Wildcat couldn't have done that, and he's the best mechanic I've ever met."

"Is he really that good? I mean, he doesn't seem to me like an overly skilled mechanic."

"Oh, when you smash a telephone with a mallet, it takes him seven seconds to examine the damage, and another three seconds later, the phone is like new."

"Yes, that's surely skilled. I've never done that." Then again, Gadget remembered that she never had to repair a vintage telephone from the 30s that had been smashed with a mallet, especially because she had never seen a rodent-sized one. But she refrained from talking about it, mainly as the terms "vintage" and "rodent-sized" made no sense in her current situation.

Baloo heard Rebecca shout that time was running. "I think I'd better continue loading the Sea Duck. Go to Rebecca, she'll tell you what to do. She's the boss here. Oh—before I forget it: Never ever call her Becky!"

"Please excuse my question, Baloo," Gadget asked, "but you call her Becky all the time."

"I don't know why she doesn't mind me saying that," Baloo replied, "but I do know that when someone else does, it's enough to drive her wild."

"Okay," Chip promised, "we'll try to remember it."

When Baloo and the Rangers left the pier, Kit came out of the Higher For Hire building. He was on his way to a school excursion, but as he saw the five strangers and the other plane, his curiosity made him stop.

"Hey, Baloo!"

"Good morning, Kit! Ready for your excursion?"

"Surely. Say, who's this?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. Rescue Rangers, this is Kit Cloudkicker. He's my navigator—well, normally, but today he's going on a school excursion, and he'll be back in two days. Kit, these are the Rescue Rangers. Er, what were your names?"

Chip took over. "I am Chip Maplewood, and these are Dale Oakmont, Gadget Hackwrench, Monterey Jack Colby, and Zipper Lightringer. Nice to meet you, Kit."

"Nice to meet you, too. Sorry, but I must go now, the plane is waiting. Maybe we'll meet again later. Bye!" With these words, Kit hurried away.

"Have a nice time, little britches!" Baloo shouted after the young bear. And if Kit hadn't already been around the corner, they could have seen his facial expression showing that he disliked being called "little britches" in public.

"By the way," Rebecca reminded Baloo and Monty, "there are another two planes waiting. Would you please go on loading them?"

"Calm down, Becky," Baloo answered, "we've still got lots of time. Come on, Monty, she doesn't like waiting. And be careful with the porcelain and the glasses."

"I know what I do, Baloo. That's not trickier than when I carried two bottles o' nitroglycerine through the Brazilian jungle. If I 'adn't 'andled 'em with care, I wouldn't be 'ere now."

Chip, Dale, Gadget and Zipper watched the two strongest guys of the team carry the boxes onto the planes. But there was something more to do before take-off.

"Chip, Dale, Zipper, would you do me a favor?" Gadget asked with a smile.

"Whatever you want," Chip answered, and Dale added, "And even more."

"Golly, I appreciate your ambition. I want you to clean the plane."

That was not exactly what Chip and Dale wanted to hear. But they had promised to do whatever Gadget wanted, and so the two of them and Zipper went back to the Conwing to make it shiny.


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

**Chapter 7: Huge Problems**

Howard Huge had been up early that day, and he had spent most of the morning roaming the streets and alleys of Cape Suzette trying to find a solution for his problem. He had to find someone who could retrieve the Marabou and, if possible, the money stored in it, too.

What made it so hard was the fact that no-one believed in the existence of the Marabou. In a certain way, it was Huge's own fault. He used to be well-known as a great aircraft engineer. But then, some years ago, he constructed the Spruce Moose—and all of a sudden, he was nothing but ridiculous. The Spruce Moose was able to fly, there was no doubt in this. And it was designed to be the ultimate cargo plane. But it was too large to leave the Cape Suzette Bay via the only way out, through the gap in the cliffs. The aviation world laughed about him for creating an aircraft which could carry large amounts of cargo, but it could carry its cargo nowhere. So he had decided to keep his further works top secret. Only himself and a handful of confidants knew about his second large-scale project, the Marabou.

In opposition to the Spruce Moose, the Marabou had been built at a hidden makeshift construction site far away from Cape Suzette, and it never was to pass the cliffs, at least not flying. First, Huge wanted wings that could fold up to a vertical position. This would have rendered the Marabou able to enter Cape Suzette like a boat. But those wings wouldn't have been strong enough to carry the plane, and with wings up, its center of gravity would have risen so high that the Marabou would have been extremely instable and likely to tip to one side. So the wings were changed to rigid, and the Marabou was planned to be loaded and unloaded outside the cliffs. To make this easier, Huge had devices mounted under the ceilings of the two cargo decks which allowed to load an entire conventional cargo aircraft such as the Conwing L-16 or the Groman Goose without detaching their wings. If Cape Suzette had been a destination, the cargo could have been hauled between the city and the Marabou by the smaller aircraft. Huge had no problems coming up with ideas how to compensate the sheer oversize of his creation instead of reducing the size. Think big was his motto, and think big he did.

He saw the completed plane only once. That was the day before the nightly maiden flight. They had to fly it at night, so that almost nobody would have been able to see it. Some information about the project did leak out to the public, but it was too incredible and to ridiculous to be credible. The Marabou became another aviation legend.

And it stayed one. On its second flight, it had to carry the entire unmounted construction site including ten million dollars of Huge's property in cash. It was another top secret overnight flight. Unfortunately, the plane got into an enormous sand storm over the Great Uslandic desert, and it had to ditch due to failing engines. The pilots, the only persons who were on board during that flight, were found alive later, but nobody believed in their story about having flown the Marabou which had never been seen since. It was said to be buried below a giant dune somewhere in the desert.

Everyone else left the former construction site on standard planes. Huge took one of his private aircraft and left for the Bearmuda Trapezoid where he hid and captured numerous planes to build his third project, a gigantic passenger plane with two fuselages named Titanium Turkey. The story around the Turkey was well-known meanwhile, the Turkey itself had been flown to Cape Suzette by an incredibly skilled pilot, and now it was stored at the Aviation Museum.

The Titanium Turkey got overly expensive for its inventor, not though, but because he had stolen most of the parts. Those whose planes he disassembled to gain his materials sued him for compensation, and then he had to pay the repair of the Spruce Moose after its theft, it was still his property, and he had searched for a long time in vain for someone to buy it.

Now everything that kept him from being broke was a rest of money in Cape Suzette and the millions stored on the Marabou. There was no way out, Huge had to find the giant bird and what was on board. But how could it be possible to get someone to help him when he couldn't pay that someone in advance, and when the object searched for was used as a subject of not few jokes?

Suddenly, Huge stopped. A sign next to a door had caught his eyes.

DAWN VAN ZANT

ARCHAEOLOGIST

Dawn van Zant? He had never heard of any Dawn van Zant. Who ever she was, she was certainly new in that business. New, unexperienced, maybe even a bit naïve, and certainly cheap to hire. What did he have to lose?

Huge entered the office of said archaeologist and saw her sitting behind her desk and reading the newspaper. Obviously, she had nothing else to do since most customers would have preferred someone with more experience. But Howard Huge needed the exact opposite.

"Good morning, Ms. van Zant!"

Dawn hastily put her newspaper down. Now he could really see her. She was a young and beautiful mouse with blue eyes and long blond hair, and she was wearing a typical archaeologist's outfit from her hat to her long pants as if she was ready to go on an expedition at any time. She smiled, a bit embarrassed about being caught reading rather than working.

"Oh, good morning, Mr..."

"Huge. Howard Huge."

She didn't make any sign of knowing him, such as starting to laugh out loud.

"Mr. Huge. Can I help you in any way?"

"Yes, I hope so. I'm looking for an archaeologist."

She smiled again, this time because she finally had a customer, and answered, "Well, you've found one. So, what can I do for you?"

"Ms. van Zant, I am searching for a lost airplane, and I have been for some months now."

"An airplane."

Huge had to make sure that she really didn't know about the Marabou. "Yes, one of the biggest airplanes ever built. It's called the Marabou, and it has disappeared in the Great Uslandic Desert some years ago."

"That doesn't sound quite old."

"Granted, it's no relic of some ancient culture, but it's extremely important for me to find it. You know, it's my plane, and there's a certain amount of money on board."

"I understand, now you want your money back."

"That's true, but furthermore, I want to prove that this plane exists. It has been kept top secret, and now it's a kind of legend, and I can't stand folks making jokes about my work anymore."

"Your work?"

"Yes, I'm the constructor of this aircraft. Have you ever been down to the docks or at the Aviation Museum? The Spruce Moose and the Titanium Turkey are my creations, too."

"You've created these giants? Wow, I'm impressed! I think I have to take a look into the Spruce Moose as soon as possible."

"That would be difficult. It's the most exclusive and expensive restaurant and ballroom in Cape Suzette."

"Aw, what a pity..."

"Wait, wait a minute. The Moose is still mine, and once I have my money back, I'll take you out and show you its interiors if you want to."

"Will you? Oh, Mr. Huge, that's so great! Okay, you got me, I'll work for you."

This day started out more than positively for Dawn van Zant. She had a customer, she had her first real job as an archaeologist, and she had been offered to see the Spruce Moose from inside.

This day started out more than positively for Howard Huge. He had found an archaeologist to help him, she was somehow interested in airplanes, yet she didn't know anything about the Marabou legend, and all he had to pay her for was a night out on the Spruce Moose where he could celebrate his comeback, accompanied by one of the most beautiful young ladies he had ever seen in this city.

"Now, Miss van Zant, what do you as an expert say what we shall do now?"

"Well, I must confess that I can't do that much with my little experience. Maybe we could ask another archaeologist for his help."

"No good idea. I've been to several archaeologists, and either they've laughed at me, or they've wanted a ruinous payment in advance, or both. No, I don't want any professional help."

"No professional help. What about amateurs?"

"What do you mean with amateurs?"

"We could turn this into a public treasure rally. But that would mean that there must be something to win."

Huge started thinking for a moment, and he came to the conclusion that he could easily spare some of his money if he got the rest back. "Agreed, Ms. van Zant. Whoever gets my plane and my money back will be honored and receive $100,000. Do you think that's enough?"

"Absolutely. When shall we start the rally? Tomorrow?"

"Isn't that a bit early?"

"Not at all. Such an amount of cash will make people forget what they've done the second before. Believe me, Mr. Huge. All I have to do now is have some bills printed and spread them all over the city. The participants will have to register here in my office, and whoever arrives in Cape Suzette with your plane will call me, and I'll call you then."

"Perfect. So, Ms. van Zant, we'll meet again this afternoon. I'll bring you some more details about where the Marabou may be."

Huge left Dawn's office with these words. He hoped that there was someone out there who could find the Marabou, do the necessary repairs to make it work again, fly it, and get it past the cliffs. It was no impossible task, at least not for the one who flew the Titanium Turkey to Cape Suzette. Maybe he'd join the treasure rally, too.


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

**Chapter 8: Leaving On A Seaplane**

The cargo was finally on board the two Conwings, and Zipper and the chipmunks had just finished cleaning the white one which now was really white and shining in the sunlight. Everything was ready to go when Gadget brought a bottle of soda from the Higher For Hire building.

"What, only one bottle for us five?" Dale wondered.

"Don't be silly, Dale," Gadget answered, "it's not for drinking."

"What else shall a bottle of soda be good for?"

"For baptizing. Baloo has asked me if our plane has a name, and I realized it should have one. Rebecca said that now that it's clean, it reminds her of a seagull. That's how I came upon the name."

Chip wanted to know, "Which name?"

Gadget raised the bottle up in the air, and speaking the words, "I hereby bestow upon you the name 'Rangergull'; may you always be faithful to your crew and whatever you will carry through the air," she smashed it on the plane's fuselage, right in front of the cockpit windows.

Everyone applauded, only Dale complained, "Hey! I've just cleaned that!"

"Sorry to interrupt our little ceremony," Baloo interjected, "but it's time to take off. We've got a delivery to do."

"Too right, mate!" Monty responded. "Gadget, take the pilot's seat an' start the engines."

"Okay, Monty, let's go!" Gadget said while entering the white Conwing. "Zipper, you're coming with us. I want you to have an eye or two upon the cargo."

After Zipper had flown aboard and Monty had shut the door, the engines were started, and both planes took off, the Sea Duck ahead, the Rangergull following and trying to keep up. Baloo had been clever enough to have more cargo on his plane than on the Rangers' which partly equaled out the additional power of his pair of Superflight engines.

Chip and Dale stayed on the pier and watched the plane with their friends on board as long as they could, not recognizing that Rebecca was standing behind them.

"Don't worry. They will come back. Nothing will happen to them as long as Baloo's around. He may not be reliable, but he's unstoppable."

"Oh, Ms. Cunningham," Chip said as he and Dale turned around, "I didn't know you're still here."

Rebecca sighed. "I'm standing here and watching Baloo fly away so often, just like you watched your friends leave. I know that he returns from wherever he goes. He's just too good at his job to get lost somewhere. But there's always this bit of uncertainty." After a short pause, she suggested, "Let's go inside, it's more comfortable talking there."

The two chipmunks followed the bear into her office where everyone sat down.

"You know," Rebecca continued, "Baloo and me, we're more than a pilot and his boss. Since the time I bought Baloo's Air Service and turned into what's today Higher For Hire, we've grown very good friends. Granted, he's a bit lazy, he's rather sloppy, and his manners leave a lot to be desired at times. But he's courageous, he's loyal to his friends, he's like a father to both Kit and my daughter Molly, and he's probably the best pilot this world has ever seen. No-one could replace him as an aviator." She laughed, "I don't even mind him calling me Becky. That's just him, you know, and besides, he's my best friend. You can imagine that one hardly gathers any friends in my business. All that makes him so special.

"And hard to lose," she went on. "And here's where the problems start. When Baloo overcomes his laziness and gets into action, he's heading for trouble more often than I can stand. He never rejects any challenge, he never gives in, and he never shies at any kind of danger when he thinks he can cope with it. What makes it even harder is that he has an extremely fierce enemy. Don Karnage, the air pirate, attacks him and the Sea Duck whenever he can, even when Baloo has nothing of any value on board. He attacks him just because. Yes, just because Baloo keeps foiling Karnage's plans such as his attack on Cape Suzette a while ago. Baloo doesn't fear Karnage, he doesn't even respect him the least bit. For him, it's no more than a game, and he's gotten too much used to winning it to take it seriously."

Rebecca sighed and gazed towards one of the windows next to the door. "And now he's out there again, hauling a cargo which is as fragile as it's important for us, and caring for your friends. What if Don Karnage is there, too, just waiting for another chance to take revenge? Have your friends ever been involved in an air combat?"

Chip considered neither of Gadget's flying constructions appropriate to combat situations and decided not to mention the incident with the two falcons they couldn't cope with anyway, so he answered, "No, never."

"Do you know what it means to have ruthless pirates as enemies?"

"Well, we know a bunch of pirates. They call themselves Pi-Rats. But I think they're more friends than enemies. And to be honest, they're so incredibly dumb that they can't even be really evil. You know, they were caught in an old ship turned upside-down on the ground of the sea for 200 years."

"200 years? Did you just say 200 years, Chip? That's impossible!"

"Not for rats that are too stupid to know that rats don't live for 200 years and more, Ms. Cunningham. I mean, most of them didn't even grow older down there! Besides, all this time under the sea, waiting for their captain to return and searching for the same treasure each and every week just out of boredom and pirate tradition, all that didn't do quite good to their minds either."

Rebecca felt that some tales from the chipmunks would help her forget her sorrows, so she decided to listen on and have them tell some stories to distract her.

"And what do those Pi-Rats do now, without a captain no less? Oh, by the way, you may call me Rebecca."

"So, Rebecca, the Pi-Rats don't really need a captain to get along. They have their first mate, Jolly Roger, and they are sailing the seas again, mostly looking for treasures as they can't be any real danger for other seamen."

"Say, you must be through many, many adventures. I'd like to hear some more. For example, how did the Rescue Rangers meet?"

"Just a moment, Rebecca." Chip pulled Dale a bit nearer and whispered to him, "Okay, Dale, we're gonna tell her some of our adventures. But remember that we're in the late 30s now, more than 50 years before the Rescue Rangers were founded. Much of our technology doesn't exist yet. And remember that Rebecca doesn't know how tiny we are where we come from. So be careful with what you say, okay, Dale?"

"I'll try my best, Chip," Dale whispered back.

"I hope your best is enough.—Okay," Chip started the story which Rangerphiles know as To The Rescue, "that day, Dale and I were out to perform a test flight with the sailplane we had built. Believe it or not, we made it of nothing but paper..."


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

**Chapter 9: Conwing Convoy**

A little more than three hours without any incident later, Gadget and Monty received a call on their radio.

"Sea Duck to Rangergull!"

"What's up, mate?" Monty answered.

"Take a look down at one o'clock. What do you see?"

"There's an island. Why?"

"Can you see that big white building?"

"Positive."

"Gadget, start the dive and follow me. Monty, take a closer look when we come nearer. You'll like that."

Gadget took over the microphone. She somehow liked the idea of having a device of wireless communication on an airplane and started thinking about upgrades for Rangerplane and Rangerwing. "Roger, Baloo. We'll just check the cargo and then dive after you."

She got up and opened the cockpit door. "Zipper, any problems with the cargo?"

Zipper negated.

"So we have your permission to dive and touch down now?"

Zipper approved. He had to give Gadget a permission. This made him feel important. He was proud of himself and his job which certainly didn't happen that often.

Gadget went back to her seat, switched off the autopilot she had built herself—about the only feature the Rangergull had but the Sea Duck lacked—and made the plane dive down gently, taking back the throttles and applying the airbrakes. These approaches were still unusual to her; on the one hand, she had to use airbrakes to slow down the plane—she had never piloted an aircraft with airbrakes, even the Screamin' Eagle had none –, on the other hand, she didn't have to think about gears as the Rangergull was to touch down on water. It was equipped with gears, but they were of no use when approaching an island which wasn't even big enough to build an appropriately-sized runway on it without demolishing the existing structures.

Said structures caught Monty's eyes as the island came nearer. The small landmass was dominated by a huge white four-storied building standing not far away from the shore. It impressed him how well the colonial-style façade worked with the otherwise castle-like landmark and especially with the turrets at the front corners. The marquee protruding from the exact center of the front was a balcony at the same time and supported by marble columns. On the rear side, another balcony on columns, a semi-oval one, covered a part of the terrace which was separated from the beach by some stairs. This building hadn't been erected at the narrowest place of the island without a reason.

In front of it, a long quay interrupted the beach which otherwise surrounded the entire island. Its painted steel frame was covered with wooden planks. What was most remarkable about the quay was that a dozen piers could be extended to allow easy access to seaplanes. Some of them were already occupied with cargo planes catering the event which was to happen that evening. A big polished brass sign between the pier and the main house indicated the pilots that they had reached their destination; the letters NADER'S HALL were engraved in it.

Some smaller wooden buildings on one side of the giant one served as storages or living places for some of the staff; a handful of shops, among them a snack bar right at the beach, indicated that this place was permanently inhabited. This was also the larger part of the island, and like the smaller one, it was covered with a bit of jungle where there were no structures.

The Sea Duck and the Rangergull touched down on the shallow water and finally landed at the quay, their rear cargo doors oriented landwards. Staff members helped them find their correct positions before the piers came out. Baloo opened the Sea Duck's cargo door with its electric drive, Monty had to use the "good old-fashioned" crank. As soon as the doors were lowered to serve as ramps, some of the staff came and unloaded the planes. Gadget, Monty and Zipper were standing near the edge of the quay when Baloo joined them to watch the spectacle.

"Welcome to Nader's Island," he said, "This is something I like about catering the Trader's Ball. They have servants for everything. You don't have to do anything yourself, apart from flyin' your plane, of course. And it saves us a whole lotta time. Oh," he shouted over to one of the staff, "tell Mr. Nader that we're from Higher For Hire!"

"I don't know your companions, but I surely know you, Baloo! I'll let Mr. Nader know!"

"Thanks!"

Monty's gaze followed the staff hauling the cargo from the quay up to Nader's Hall and the storages, and when it reached the huge white landmark, it stopped. The globe-trotting mouse was totally awestruck.

"Too-ra-loo, this is a palace! I wonder why I've never been 'ere before. Baloo, tell me a bit 'bout this place."

"This island is called Nader's Island since William Nader, a wealthy merchant, bought it many years ago. He had that dream of a castle of his own on a remote island, and he almost made this dream come true. But he died two weeks before Nader's Hall was finished, and his son, William Nader II, took it over. He was the first Nader to host the Trader's Ball in the ballroom up on the second floor. And William Nader II was one of the businessmen who made Cape Suzette what it's today—a metropolis so rich that it has to be hidden behind heavily-armed cliffs. Today, Nader's Hall is property of William Nader III. It was him who had the quay adapted for seaplanes and who made it an annual ball since it was easier then to get both guests and materials to the island. And the Hall has many more facilities such as a bar and a small hospital.

"Now look over there. Can you see that little village? This is where some of the staff live all year long. It's an easy and simple life for those who keep Nader's Hall alive over the year. If they want or have to, they can always take the daily airliner to Cape Suzette. By the way, it was William Nader II's idea to build that village and to build it at that particular place. Y'know, there are severe storms comin' here from time to time. But Nader's Hall resists every hurricane, and the smaller buildings are standing in its slipstream."

Baloo's tour guiding was interrupted by a growling.

"What was that?"

"My stomach," Monty answered. "I'm runnin' on reserve."

"Alright, lunch, anyone?"

The three Rangers nodded.

"That's great. Because now I can show you the place where you can get the best omelettes in both the known and the unknown world. It's called Ye Olde Omelette Outlette, and it's right there at the beach. I'm invitin' you, alright?"

Leading the Rangers along the beach to the Omelette Outlette, he added, "I recommend the cheese omelettes."

"Golly," Gadget replied, "I can already smell them. Uh-oh..."

She saw that certain expression come up on Monty's face and ran ahead to the snack bar where she almost crashed into the counter. "A cheese omelette! Quick! And don't stop the supplies until I say so!"

Baloo couldn't explain himself what was happening. "Monty, what..."

"Chuh-hhheeeeeeezzze!" As usual, Monty started floating in the air and aproaching his target, the source of the cheese smell, like a scent-seeking missile in slow motion. Zipper grasped his tail and tried in vain to slow him down to gain some time.

"Monty? Zipper? Gadget, what's up with him?"

Gadget shouted back, "He's having a cheese attack! Nothing will stop him until he gets his cheese!"

Thanks to the inventor mouse's fast reaction, the first two cheese omelettes were ready shortly before Monty arrived. It took him less than ten seconds to snatch and devour one of them. He held the second one in his hand when Baloo finally made it to the Outlette.

"Yer right, Baloo, these cheese omelettes are jes' fine," Monty said before the second one went down the hatch within seconds. "Would recommend 'em meself."

Ten cheese omelettes later—Baloo tried to restrain himself a bit and had only one, Gadget had one, Monty shared one with Zipper and had the other seven –, they left Ye Olde Omelette Outlette and went back to the pier.

"And, Gadget, did you like that cheese omelette, too?" Baloo wanted to know.

"Golly, surely! I'm a mouse, and mice like cheese. Fortunately, I'm not such an addict as Monty."

"Yes, Monty, you impressed me. I've never seen someone with such a good appetite. Apart from myself, to be honest."

"So why 'aven't ya 'ad more o' them, Baloo? Ya say ya could've. Do ya wanna go 'ungry in the middle o' nowhere on yer flight back?"

"Of course not, Monty. But Becky and I are gonna have that dinner tonight at Nader's Hall, and besides, I've finally managed to get slim enough to fit into my suit again."

As the four arrived at the quay, both planes had been completely unloaded and were ready for their return to Cape Suzette. Time was still running, especially for Baloo who had to return to Nader's Island the same day. However, there was something which struck Monty.

"I think there's somethin' missin' on the Rangergull."

"That can't be, Monty, I had no parts left after repairing it."

"No, it's somethin' different. Look here." Monty pulled two large stickers out of his jacket. "Good that I always carry some o' these with me."

"Self-adhesive Rescue Rangers logos?"

"Fer sure, Gadget luv. How can the Rangergull be the Rangergull without 'em?"

While Gadget wondered since when the Rangers had stickers of that size, Monty and Zipper applied them under the lateral cockpit windows. "Look 'ere, now it's a real Ranger seaplane!"

After this was done, everybody got on board their planes and started the engines, Baloo took off first, and the Rangers followed him on their way back, hoping that it would be as easy as their flight to Nader's Island.


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

**Chapter 10: Changing Minds**

The afternoon had become late, and Rebecca and the two chipmunks were still sitting in the Higher For Higher office, digging up memories of their past adventures. Wildcat had nothing to do as the Sea Duck was not there, so he spent most of the day upstairs playing with Molly. Sometimes Rebecca went up to look after them, she knew that when she left them all alone, they would surely cause not little mischief. But now no sound at all came from Molly's room. It was the time of the day when Molly's favorite radio show was aired, and that meant that nothing and nobody should dare disturb Cape Suzette's probably biggest Danger Woman fan as long as she was stuck to the radio.

A wall clock in the office showed that this day's episode was about to end when Rebecca heard the sound of four radial engines come in from the pier. Being a friend of Baloo's and Wildcat's and an amateur pilot herself had taught her what a radial engine was.

"Perfect timing," she remarked and got up. Chip and Dale followed her through the door, and Wildcat and Molly who had heard the engines, too, ran downstairs and after them.

It was a great relief for the five of them to see that the two Conwings and their crews had returned in time and without any damages.

"Crikey, Gadget luv," Monty said as he left the Rangergull, "y'know 'ow ta fly an' touch down smoothly. I could really keep all those cheese omelettes inside. Geegaw would be proud o' ya."

"Golly, that wasn't hard," Gadget replied. "The Rangergull is by far the heaviest aircraft I've ever piloted. Nevertheless, I had to tweak the trimming to compensate your weight after the cargo was unloaded. You should really do as Baloo does and try to lose a bit of it instead of stuffing yourself with all one can make of cheese."

"Okay, okay, I confess that was a 'ole lotta lunch. But see it positively. I don't think I'm gonna 'ave another cheese attack t'day."

As usual, Zipper expressed his skepticism.

"I promise you, Zipper, no more cheese attacks today."

"And," Chip asked after meeting them aside the Gull, "what was your first job as cargo pilots like? Everything went fine?"

Gadget and Monty told him, Dale, and Rebecca about the flights, the impressive building called Nader's Hall, the lunch at Ye Olde Omelette Outlette, and they showed them the R/R logos on the white seaplane which Chip commented, "Now it's really the Rangergull."

"Hey, everybody," Rebecca called from the end of the pier, "I haven't introduced you to my daughter yet." Now the Rangers saw that cute little bear for the first time. "Rescue Rangers, this is Molly. Molly, these are the Rescue Rangers."

Molly, still wearing her improvised Danger Woman outfit, smiled and waved to the Rangers walking and flying respectively towards her when something came to Rebecca's mind. "Oh, no!"

Baloo hated when she said that as it could mean trouble ahead. "Becky, what's up?"

"Baloo, Kit is on his excursion, and now we don't have a babysitter for Molly!"

"Indeed, I've forgotten that, too."

"But we must go to the Trader's Ball tonight, and we can neither take her with us nor leave her alone here." Whispering into his ear, she went on, "And I don't trust Wildcat enough."

"We can do that!"

For this proposal, Dale earned angry looks from his fellow Rangers and an upset unison "Dale!" from Chip and Gadget.

"Remember what 'appened the last time?"

"Monty, the last time is about 15 years ago now. And take a look at her. Neither of you expects this cutie to be a gangster in disguise, or do you?"

Despite Dale trying to convince him otherwise, Chip went on defending the Rangers' anti-babysitting position. "No, of course not. At least not yet. But whenever we even came close to babysitting, it ended up in a disaster! Think of Jeremy!"

"We didn't babysit Jeremy, not even I did it on my own, no matter how hard I tried. The bear did, remember? And we rescued both in the end."

What Dale said sounded plausible to Gadget, something that doesn't happen often. Jeremy's rescue was hard, especially for her who had to rebuild the entire plumbing of the caravan within seconds, but they had much harder cases, and who said that it was easy to be a Rescue Ranger?

Chip, however, insisted in his point of view. "And the booby baby?"

"That wasn't babysitting, Chip, that was the aftermath. It was an egg most of the time we were babysitting—well, rather egg-sitting it. And we managed it, even it was stressing."

"And I must say," Gadget interjected, "you were some perfect replacement fathers. I'm still proud of you guys for what you have done." Dale was on a good way to convince her. He did have some good points.

"Thank you, Gadget. But now, Dale, we come to—" Chip made a short break "—Bink and Tammy Chesnutt."

"Bink and Tammy?" Dale had waited for this moment. This was kind of Chip's favorite. And this was where he could get him. Friends or not.

"Charles Maplewood," he knew exactly that Chip hated being called his full name, "you are the only one of us who has a problem with this case. An' your problem is that you seem to have a problem with Tammy havin' a crush on you an' callin' you Chipper for that reason. But let me tell you one thing: Tammy had more of a problem with you rejecting her that rudely than you had with her admiring you. By the way: Tammy has proved Ranger-ready more than once. She has teamed up with us successfully countless times. And she has overcome both her feelings for you and her jealousy towards Gadget. They are best friends today, in case you haven't noticed yet. Tammy could be a real official Rescue Ranger by now, even rather than Foxglove, and you know what it means when I admit that. But noooo, you still have that problem."

In his thoughts, Dale continued his monologue. 'And he wants to hook up with Gadget. Huh! I'd like to see that. You'd better learn how to treat a female right before your next try, Mister The-Leader-Gets-The-Girl-And-The-Fool-Gets-Nada. Think twice, buddy. I actually have a girl-friend. If I didn't have Foxy, and if I wanted, I could easily choose between two or three other girls, and yes, including Gadget and Clarice.'

Chip gave Gadget a glance, hoping for some defense. Her face still showed her anger, but now she was angry about him. She had not only started to think about the no-babysitting policy which Dale had proved pointless, she also remembered the Rescue Rangers' main policy: No case too big (like their first case, stopping the human super-villain Aldrin Klordane), no case too small (like their second case, retrieving a human child's puppy). And she remembered how Chip had rejected Midge's demand for help getting him to Capistrano. The other Rangers had broken out in tears about his decision. All four. He had made his friends cry, just because he considered that case too small for his thinking in Sureluck Jones dimensions. The main policy made more than sense, if he wanted or not. And it did apply in this situation. The Rangers were there to help wherever help was needed, and this task was not further away from what they normally do than the cargo job. Besides, the Rangers would be the last to deny a case because they had bad experiences with one or more similar cases in the past.

No, she wouldn't leave this cuddly little bear alone this night. Even if she had to do it all by herself.

Dale's words were still echoing in her head. She wished that she wasn't dreaming, that Dale would say all that to Chip in real life. It was overdue.

It seemed like Dale had defended himself and the babysitting issue too well, because even Monty and Zipper almost looked at Chip as if a mutiny among the Rangers was to go ahead. They were again what they used to be—two of the best babysitters one could have.

"Lis'n, Chip. I 'aven't only been babysittin' with the Rescue Rangers, I was even the babysitter o' one o' the Rangers 'erself. Yes, I took care o' li'l Gadget a number o' times when 'er father wasn't there." Monty walked over to Gadget and put his arm around her. "An' Zipper is the oldest child in 'is family. Y'know 'ow many brothers an' sisters a fly 'as, don't ya? 'e stayed at 'ome 'til enough o' them could care fer themselves an' fer each other 'cause 'is parents were totally overloaded. Now I'd say we two got a 'ole lotta experience in babysittin'. An' I ask ya: What can go wrong with this li'l angel?"

Dale had opened Gadget's, Monty's and Zipper's eyes. And Dale, Gadget and Monty had opened Chip's eyes. The leader of the Rangers started to realize that. Everybody had been blinded by a vertically challenged human villain disguised as a baby an eternity ago. Chip himself was the blindest of them, most of the time labeling his blindness "responsibility as the leader", while Dale was the first to get his vision back. The Rangers had learned a lesson where there was no lesson to learn at all. In contrast to Chip's situation now.

The other Rangers stared at him and waited for his decision. After all, he was still the leader, the one of the team who approved or denied the cases—though there had hardly ever been a case he should rather have denied.

"Rescue Rangers..."

He could see the anticipation in his friends' faces. They wanted him to say this one word. So he said it.

"...away."

Upon this word, Gadget, Monty and Zipper started to cheer, and Dale gave his old friend a hug. "Aw, Chip, you're the best! I knew you wouldn't let us down!"

"Alright, calm down, everybody!" Chip was a bit embarrassed about their reaction. "Let's go now. I hope we haven't forgotten anything since way back then."

It was then when the Rangers saw Molly standing in front of the door all alone.

"Hey," Chip wanted to know, "where are Baloo and Rebecca?"

Molly answered, "Oh, Mommy is making herself beautiful for the ball. And Baloo is trying to get into his suit again."

"Okay, Molly—" Dale started.

"Molly's not here. I am Danger Woman!"

"—Danger Woman, let's wait for the two to come out."


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Rangers And The Danger**

After a while, Rebecca came through the door, ready for the ball, in what looked like her usual dress. She had not found a tailor who could salvage its parts from the balloon which carried the Spruce Moose and reconstruct it, but the store she had bought it at had more than one of them, so she had bought a new one. Money was definitely one of her lesser problems.

Chip and Dale were amazed about that sight. They looked at Rebecca in that dress, then turned their views to Gadget and imagined her wearing it. Even she was able to recognize that from the boys' expressions.

"No. Never. Not in your wildest dreams, you two."

"Gadget," Chip said, "this dress would look absolutely incredible on you. You'd take anyone's breath away." Then again, she already took anyone's breath away in her usual lavender overalls and goggles. It actually didn't matter at all what she wore. But this dress on her would be a near-lethal dose of beauty.

"Come on. You know that bad things happen whenever I'm wearing a dress."

Dale had the perfect reply. "And you knew ten minutes ago that bad things happen whenever we go babysitting."

"Maybe it's not dresses in general," Chip supposed, "but that particular red dress you always wear as a disguise. Or that blond wig. I mean, why do you even wear that thing, you are blond."

"Yeah," Dale proposed her, "you could wear one of my dresses next time. And I could borrow you my red wig."

Rebecca had an idea, and, unusually for a woman, no problem with another woman wearing the same dress as her. "Gadget, would you like to go shopping with me tomorrow? I believe that store had this dress in your size."

Before Gadget could answer, the door opened again, and Baloo came out. He really had managed to get into his tuxedo.

This time it was Rebecca's turn to be amazed. "Baloo, I'm proud of you. You can even breathe without the buttons flying off."

"Yes, and there's still enough space in here for a dinner."

"Well, certainly not for what you consider a dinner, Baloo." Rebecca snickered.

"I promise you I'll keep my dinner in normal dimensions tonight, Becky."

"And?"

"I'll try my best to behave well."

"That's what I wanted to hear. Now to you, Rescue Rangers. Bring Molly to my apartment. It's built up there around the waterfall, you can't miss it." Rebecca gave Chip the keys. "And take good care of Molly. Bring her to bed at seven, no matter what she says. When you're hungry, there's a snack bar down the street, I can recommend it, it's open 24/7. I don't know when we'll be back, but the ball won't end before midnight, and then we'll still have to fly all the way back here. Any questions before we leave?"

"Yes, what about our payment for the cargo job?"

"The payment, right, I've almost forgotten that."

She disappeared into the office, came back with a filled envelope some seconds later and put it into Chip's hands.

"That was it, thanks. And no further questions," Chip answered briefly after counting the money.

"Alright, we'll leave for Nader's Hall now," Rebecca announced.

"And we'll care for your daughter from now on," Chip promised. "Have a nice time at the ball!"

Dale added, "Yeah, have a ball at the ball!"

Monty wondered, "I always thought that's what balls are there fer anyway."

Gadget remarked, "I don't like balls. They expect us women to wear dresses there. Uh, talking about women, where's Danger Woman?"

Monty picked Molly up to carry her on his arm. "Here she is, Gadget luv."

"Why are you carrying me?" Molly protested.

"'Cause ya should save yer powers 'til ya really need 'em, Danger Woman," Monty explained. He knew how to deal with heroes. After all, he was one himself.

"A wise decision from you, my faithful adviser," Molly replied in her best Danger Woman manner. "By the way, Danger Woman likes to know the names of her new fellows who call themselves the Rescue Rangers."

"So, Danger Woman, as yer adviser fer tanight, I 'ave the 'onor t' introduce the Rescue Rangers ta ya. See the chipmunk in the fedora 'at an' the aviator jacket?" Monty knew it was a good idea to avoid the term "bomber jacket". "It's Chip, our leader. 'e's the one who decides everything, 'e comes up with most plans, 'e keeps the Rescue Rangers tagether, an' 'e's a skilled detective."

"Thank you, Monty!"

"Yer welcome, Chip lad. Now ta the chipmunk in the red shirt." Again, he didn't say "Hawaiian shirt" for a reason. "This is Dale. 'e an' Chip 'ave been friends ferever or so, at least fer a long, long time. When it's gonna get random, crazy, or even insane, it's Dale's task. Surprise attacks are 'is game, fer example. An' 'e's our actor. 'e can play 'bout every role 'e wants, from an opera singer over a secret agent up ta some female roles. Even Chip 'as learned one or two things from 'im."

"Aw, c'mon, Monty, you're all good actors", Dale admitted.

"I think we've all learned from ya. At least, y've inspired us. Now back t' introducin'. The blond mouse in the overalls, that's Gadget, the only woman in our team. She's both more beautiful an' more intelligent than the rest of us altogether." Gadget smiled and blushed after Monty said that. "She's not only a mechanic like Wildcat, she's a real inventor. An' she's a pilot. Well, she's taught Chip an' Dale how ta fly, an' I've learned it from 'er father, but she's still our main pilot, also 'cause she builds our planes an' other vehicles herself."

"That's true, Danger Woman," Gadget lied a bit, "I don't rely on vehicles I can buy. I prefer them specialized." In fact, there was a bit of truth in her words.

"An' now ta meself", Monty went on. "Me name's Monterey Jack, but friends call me Monty. I'm from far away, an' I've been all 'round the world in my life. 'Cept Thembria, p'raps. I'm the adventurer an' the muscle mouse o' the team."

"Can you prove that's muscles?" Chip asked and grinned.

"Shall I, right 'ere an' now? Y'want me ta?"

"No, no, I believe you. You know, Danger Woman, Monty uses his, er, muscles before he uses anything else."

"An' I'm proud of it, jes' ta let ya know! So, last but not least me ol' friend Zipper. 'e's small, 'e's light, 'e's fast an' nimble, an' 'e's the only Ranger who doesn't need a plane ta fly as 'e's got 'is own set o' wings. What I admire most 'bout 'im is that 'e attacks opponents, no matter 'ow big they are. 'e's so small an' fast that 'e's hard ta hit an' even harder ta catch. An' 'e can put away quite much fer someone of 'is size."

"Yes," Molly said, "I know that being small can sometimes be good."


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

**Chapter 12: Good Golly, Miss Molly**

After ascending a street leading up the foothills of Cape Suzette, the group of six was finally standing below Rebecca's place. The way it surrounded the waterfall at such a height above street level amazed the Rangers.

Chip imagined how, if it was his place, he could relax up there between solving criminal cases as a detective and read one of the novels from his Sureluck Jones library. And this apartment would be perfect to impress Gadget.

Dale saw in it the secret headquarter of a super hero, of himself as a super hero, preferably Rubber Bando. He could get wherever he wanted within almost no time from up there. And this apartment would be perfect to impress Gadget... but then, he already had Foxglove, and she would love it even more than he.

Gadget herself imagined turning this place into a big high-tech workshop including a launchpad for VTOL aircraft. She would produce her own electricity by running the waterfall through turbines driving electric generators.

As an experienced adventurer, Monty liked the height in which this building seemed to protrude from the rock. Then again, he wouldn't even need such luxury to spend a night up there, a wooden makeshift structure would be more than enough for him. On the other hand, what he saw promised to have an appropriately equipped kitchen. Maybe he could turn it into a restaurant and train his own kitchen staff together with his father, Cheddarhead Charlie.

Zipper smirked over the thought that he was the only one who wouldn't need that stupid elevator. He knew that Monty would say he wouldn't need one either as well as that Monty would never confess that he'd have his problems with hauling his weight up the rocks.

Chip unlocked and opened the door, and Molly led the Rangers to the elevator which took them up to the apartment floor. Another door was unlocked, and there they were. They had been in "human-style" dwelling places before, but this was the first time that things had a size appropriate to them instead of being way too huge.

The lack of the scale issue was even topped by Rebecca's obvious sense for decent luxury. The late afternoon sun shone in from the balcony windows and illuminated the spacious living-room.

"Too-ra-loo," Monty stated, "when the kitchen's as grand as the livin'-room, I'm ab-so-lutely impressed."

"Aw, who cares about the kitchen?" Chip asked. "Have a look at this balcony! Hey Gadget," he proposed with a smile, "would you like to share this breath-taking view with me?"

Gadget couldn't help but blush. "Golly, surely, Chip!" As the leader of the Rescue Rangers, he could be a bossy, sometimes even cruel workaholic sticking to his perfectionist attitude he had learned from Sureluck Jones. But then, he could also be kind and charming, an almost perfect gentleman. Gadget wondered why she hadn't seen him use these attributes to hardly anyone but her.

The two of them walked out onto the balcony. Zipper followed them for a short flight around the house, but soon he came back inside and joined Monty who examined the kitchen.

Dale, however, felt more bored than anything else. Chip and Gadget had each other and Cape Suzette's panorama. Monty was at his favorite part of the apartment which also seemed to attract Zipper's curiosity. But what was there for him? He didn't see any reason for disturbing the two on the balcony, Foxglove wasn't there either, and Rebecca didn't even have cable TV—heck, she had no television at all, despite all her wealth.

This boredom was interrupted by an over-amazed Monty. "Dale, me lad, you shoulda seen this kitchen. It would be a sin ta go an' 'ave our dinner at the snack bar when I can fix anything in there." He then went and asked Chip, "Can ya gimme some money? I'm goin' down ta the grocer's an' get some ingredients fer our dinner!"

"You really wanna cook for us? What about the snack bar down the street?"

"Y'know, I jes' can't leave this kitchen unused."

Chip gave him some cash. "Okay, here you are. Your creations are better than that snack bar stuff anyway. Oh, by the way, what's on the stove today?"

"Cheese chowder, anyone?"

The other four Rangers' eyes grew in anticipation.

"You too, Gadget?"

"Monty, you know I'd never leave out one of your cheese chowders. Apart from the fact that you're talking to a mouse."

"So it's cheese chowder t'day. I'll be back in no time!"

Chip tossed him the keys, and Monty left the place with a borrowed shopping bag tucked under his arm and Zipper accompanying him.

"Monterey Jack's Tower of Cheese—Café-Restaurant," Chip joked, and Gadget added, "No pressure cooker explosions since 1990."

Their snickering couldn't keep Dale from feeling bored again. However, one could, and that one was Molly. Of all Rangers, it had always been him who appealed the most to children.

"Dale? What do we do now?"

Dale knelt down to her. "Well, Danger Woman," he liked continuing the game around Molly's disguise, "first we wait for our team's cook to return and create the meal."

"Is his cheese chowder good?"

"It's the best. There are rumors that the one his father makes is even better, but I don't believe that cheese chowder can be any better than the one Monty makes. So, what would you like to do? What does Rebecca or Kit normally do with you in the evening?"

"When Kit is here, he plays Wonder Woman with Lucy and me."

"Lucy? Who is Lucy?"

"Wait!" Molly ran off to her room and returned with her favorite doll. "Here, Dale, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Dale."

Dale let out quite a bit of his charm as he greeted Molly's doll. "Hello Lucy, nice to meet you."

"You know," Molly explained, "Lucy is one of Molly's best friends, and she is Danger Woman's fearless companion."

Meanwhile, Chip and Gadget had left the balcony and watched how fine their friend and the little bear got along with each other. Both chipmunks still kept a bit of childhood deep inside. But while Chip, being the leader of the Rescue Rangers and therefore bearing quite a responsibility, had to suppress it most of the time, it had stayed a part of Dale's character even throughout all his Ranger years. And when had it ever been more useful than now?

"When Mommy brings me to bed," Molly went on, "she tells or reads me an adventure story. I love adventure stories."

"Adventure stories? Hey, do you wanna hear some real adventure stories? The adventures of the Rescue Rangers?"

"Oh, Danger Woman has her own adventures. She steps from one into the other."

As Dale was right about to frown in disappointment, Molly took of her "helmet" and "cape" and called out in excitement, "But Molly would really, really like to hear your adventures!"

"Well," Dale placed her onto an armchair and took a sofa seat himself, "then let's start with how the Rescue Rangers met each other. Right, Chip?"

Chip sat down on the sofa, together with Gadget. "Right, Dale." He didn't mind telling that story once more, and it was even him who started.

"It all happened some years ago. Dale and I were testing an airplane we made of paper."

"You made an airplane of paper?" Molly wondered, although she herself had ridden a plane made of ice once.

"Yes, but it was all but reliable," Dale explained.

Chip continued the story. "So, after a weird crash with the paper plane, we heard police sirens come near. It was Drake and Plato, two good friends of ours, and they were chasing some thugs. We were interested in police work and crime fighting, and they knew that, so they let us join them."

The two ladies listened to the chipmunks who were approaching the dock scenes when Monty and Zipper came back from the grocer's in time.

"As I promised ya, mate, I 'ad no cheese attack. An' they do 'ave some excellent cheese down there. Jes' perfect fer a good cheese chowder."

Zipper reminded him of the masses of cheese omelettes he had for lunch.

"Maybe, but I think there's some space again in there. Y'know, I'm not makin' cheese chowder ta 'ave none fer meself. Oh, 'ello lads an' lasses, what's goin' on'?"

"Storytellin'," was Dale's brief answer, and Chip extended it, "We've come to the part when we met at the docks, and we'd like you to join us."

"Fer sure, jes' come with me inta the kitchen, an' I'll take over while I'm fixin' the chowder."

The four got up from their seats and followed Monty. He helped Molly onto the worktop, and while he prepared his work, he took over the storytelling. "Well, I think the guys 'ave told ya who Fat Cat is, right? This crook was also responsible fer sinkin' me 'ome and everythin' in it. So I went fer a good piece o' cheese, and if that day 'adn't been mean enough ta poor ol' Monterey, it started 'ailin' chipmunks. Two chipmunks, ta be more precise. Right upon me. Well, now that I know 'em better, I guess it was jes' fine that they landed on somethin' soft."

Zipper interrupted him with something like, "Yeah, soft you are." It was usually him who criticized Monty's shape, far more often than Gadget.

The Aussie mouse defended himself, "Imagine I 'adn't been," before he went on cooking and telling, supported by Chip, Dale, and Gadget who finally joined them at her point of the story.

The chowder was almost finished when Dale had the honor to tell the end. "...so Fat Cat rushed into the Jell-O and caused the second earthquake. Like Gadget had planned it, the whole building fell into the cave. The police came down and saw what happened, and as they caught Klordane, Drake's words turned out as correct, and they let him out of prison and into his retirement. But Professor Nimnul and Fat Cat were able to escape."

Chip concluded the story with the words, "It was to be the first, but not the only time we met them."

"And," Molly was interested to know, "do the police now call you whenever they have problems with a case?"

"No, er," Chip replied, "the Rescue Rangers are a kind of secret force. Nobody can contact us, we just appear wherever our help is needed. You know, when the police had our address or number, it would be too easy for our enemies to find it out. They hardly even know that we exist. No, we get our cases by going on patrols, visiting police stations, and often by mere chance."

"And sometimes the cases get us, like the night I met..." Dale filled the pause with a sigh. "Foxy."

"Who is Foxy?"

Chip explained Molly, "Foxglove is a bat and Dale's girlfriend."

And Dale added, "She's not only a bat, she's the cutest bat in the world."

Filling up some bowls with his delicious creation, Monty announced, "We'll tell ya the story while we're 'avin' dinner, okay? Cheese chowder's ready!"

Right after Monty had served the chowder and everyone had taken their places at the table, it was Dale's turn to start the story. "So we were at the drive-in cinema that evening. We had taken our second plane, the Rangerwing, to go there. I can tell you, that was expensive. We had to pay all the parking spaces we blocked with the wings." Chip was glad that Dale kept up the no-rodent-size rule, but it was not easy to warp the adventure to have the Rangers human-sized as they told on and on while having dinner.

"...and so Dale got his Foxy," Chip concluded once more, this time chuckling.

"Hey, what's so funny about someone havin' a crush on me?" Dale complained. "Or shall I tell Molly about you and Tammy? Huh, 'Chipper'?"

"Oh no, not that again!" Chip groaned

"Why not?" Gadget asked. "You two looked so cute in those dresses."

"Tammy? Chipper? Dresses? What kind of adventure is that?"

Now it was Monty's turn to begin. "Y'know, Molly, this 'ere isn't the first time we're babysittin'. Mrs. Chesnutt, our neighbor, called us fer 'elp. She wanted us ta look after 'er daughters. Bink was 'bout two or three years old then, but Tammy was a teenager. No li'l lass anymore, but no woman yet. Chip rescued 'er as she fell outta that tree, y'know, and—zoom! First she fell outta the tree, an' then she fell fer our Chip."

"Couldn't you leave that part out, Monty?"

"Chip. When I left it out, nothin' would be left o' the story. So, Tammy's the older one, but she caused far more trouble than 'er li'l sister. She tried t'always be 'round 'er beloved Chipper—she called 'im Chipper –, she treated poor Gadget either as if she was air or as if she was competin' fer Chip with her, an' then she wanted ta prove ta 'im that she was as good as us, an' ran right away ta Fat Cat's casino ta solve our current case on 'er own." Monty and the other Rangers didn't leave out any interesting detail from the Maltese Mouse to Chip's and Dale's drag performance. They even taught Molly the Fat Cat Stomp.

Many more adventures of the Rangers followed all through the evening. But though Molly followed them with joy and excitement as if she was part of the action herself, she grew more and more tired due to the time proceeding. And soon it was seven o'clock, time for her to go to bed, so the Rangers brought her to her room.

Standing on her bed in her nightgown, she smiled at her five new friends.

"Rescue Rangers, you are the best babysitters I've ever had. You've told me so great adventures, and you haven't even invented them, you've really been through them all. It's been such a great day with you."

She then addressed to every single Ranger.

"Chip, I like how you lead the Rescue Rangers through good and bad, how you always come up with new plans, and how you never lose your nerves."

"Thank you, Molly, I appreciate that very much."

"Dale, I like your funny way. I had to laugh over most of your parts of the adventures. You don't take things too serious, but you're always there for your friends when they need you."

"Aw, thanks, Molly!"

"Monty, I like your strength, how you're the strongest member of the Rescue Rangers, and how you take on every enemy, even your greatest villains. Danger Woman would be proud of you. I like your experience in adventures, sometimes you remind me of Baloo. And of course I liked your cheese chowder."

"Molly lass, I don't know what ta say but—thanks!"

"Zipper, I like your courage. I mean, you're even smaller than me, but you seem not to fear anything. You can attack quickly, and you can escape quickly, because you've got wings, and you can fly like a bird."

Zipper bowed in mid-air to thank the little bear for her words.

"And Gadget... I don't know where to start."

"Start with whatever you want," Gadget said, smiled and picked Molly up to hold her on her arm, "I want to hear it."

"You're intelligent. You invent many useful things, the Rescue Rangers would be nothing without your inventions. You're even a better mechanic than Uncle Wildcat." While Molly was saying this, Gadget started blushing. "You're very, very beautiful." At this point, Gadget blushed a whole lot more, and Chip sighed, though it could hardly be heard. "And you're so, so nice to people. You help them with all you can do."

Still blushing, Gadget felt like she kind of had to justify herself. "I like helping. I'd never leave anyone helpless when I can help."

"You're so wonderful, Gadget," Molly added to her previous words. "I love you all, Rescue Rangers, but I love you most. When I'm big, I want to be like you."

The inventor mouse failed in finding something to say. Instead, she picked the bear up again and gave her a hug. "Thank you, Molly. Thank you so much. You're wonderful, too, Molly." Fighting her tears of joy with all her might, she had only one wish. 'Don't wake up now, Gadget. Please don't wake up from this dream. Not now.'


	13. Chapter 13

* * *

**Chapter 13: Night In Cape Suzette**

A dark blue sky with countless sparkling stars covered Cape Suzette. But not the whole city was asleep. The guns on the cliffs were of course manned all around the clock, and a few dock workers were still busy loading and unloading ships. However, only a few seaplanes were traveling into and out of the bay. One of them was a legendary yellow Conwing L-16 performing its not less legendary nightly landing at Higher For Hire's pier. What made it so particular was that the pilot passed through the gap at high speed, shut down the engines far offshore and let his aircraft glide quietly for the rest of the distance. Though he had a personal policy against taking off from Cape Suzette at night except for cases of emergency, he couldn't always prevent a nightly landing, yet he tried his best to do it as silently as possible.

Baloo helped Rebecca out of the Sea Duck. He could be a real gentleman when he wanted to. And falling back into his usual sloppy manners was definitely the wrong way to end this wonderful night.

Even Rebecca was amazed about her pilot and friend. "I'm proud of you. I'm really proud of you and how well you behaved tonight. You really helped me get some new customers."

"Oh Becky," Baloo answered with a touch of embarrassment, "I've just done it for you. For you and for Higher For Hire. Besides, no-one tried to raid the place this time."

He let her inside the Higher For Hire building to fetch her usual clothes and waited outside for her to come out.

"Baloo," she wondered as she was back with her clothes in a bag, "why don't you go sleeping? It's late at night, in case you haven't noticed."

"I'd like to walk you home if you don't mind. Your way leads through some dangerous places, and it's about impossible to get a taxi at this time of night."

"You're right. Come on, Baloo, let's go."

They walked together from the unfriendly bayside to uptown Cape Suzette, enjoying the beautiful night with its starry sky, and sharing memories from the Trader's Ball, until they reached Rebecca's front door.

"Good night, Becky," Baloo said and smiled at his boss.

"Good night, Baloo," Rebecca replied and returned his smile, "and thanks for walking me home."

They kept each other in their eyes until Rebecca shut the door behind herself. If she had looked up to her apartment instead, she would have seen Gadget up on the balcony.

Baloo's way back to Higher For Hire was not as easy as the day and night before. It was interrupted by a big, fierce-looking brown bear suddenly standing in his way.

"Why, Baloo, shouldn't you listen to what your pillow says rather than walkin' around town at night? Now that's gonna get expensive."

Surprisingly, Baloo was not afraid. Not even impressed. "Greg, Greg, Greg. I've told you so many times, and I hoped I needn't tell you again. Do you know Don Karnage, the meanest air pirate ever? I don't have the slightest bit of respect for him." Slowly, his voice turned angrier. "Now explain me why I should fear you, or else go outta my way!"

"O-okay, my friend, didn't wanna do you no harm, you and that tux you're wearin'." The bear stepped aside and tried a smile which rather turned out as a grin. "Have a nice night!" He didn't know how he could forget Baloo's famous relation to Don Karnage, so he let Baloo go his way.

The elevator took Rebecca up to her apartment. She tried her best to be as quiet as possible as she unlocked the door and sneaked inside. In the dark living-room, she saw four of the five Rangers sleeping. Chip and Dale were lying head to head on the sofa, and Monty was half sitting, half lying in an armchair with Zipper on his belly. The next thing she recognized was that the balcony door was open. She went to find out why and found Gadget standing outside alone. So she decided to join her and carefully closed the door behind herself not to disturb the guys.

"Hello Gadget!" Rebecca said quietly.

The mouse turned around and saw the bear next to her. "Hello Rebecca!"

"How come you're still here?"

"We didn't want to leave Molly all alone after we brought her to bed, so we decided to stay here at least until you come back." Something on Rebecca struck Gadget that she didn't quite understand. "You're still wearing that dress?"

"Yes, I've just returned from the Trader's Ball. Be honest, Gadget. Do you like it?"

"Oh, it looks wonderful. But I don't like wearing dresses."

"Do you have any dresses?"

"I've got that one red dress, yes. It's part of a disguise I've used on some cases. Golly, I think even Dale has more dresses than I."

"Have you ever worn a dress for another reason than disguising yourself?"

"No. I prefer my overalls."

"Aw, Gadget. You're such a pretty young woman. It's such a waste of beauty to..."

Upon closer examination, Rebecca recognized the trails in Gadget's face which some tears have left behind not long ago.

"Gadget. What's up with you?"

"What do you mean, Rebecca?"

"I can see that you've cried. Tell me what made you so sad."

Gadget thought for a short while about if she could trust Rebecca. But then she decided that talking about it was something good to do.

"It's actually more of an emotional chaos. There's just too too much going around in my head. You know, I've lost my father almost twenty years ago, and I still miss him." She turned her view towards the bay, leaning a bit forward and laying her arms on the balcony wall. "Then there's this place... all the people I've met so far... it's all too wonderful. Molly, your daughter, adores me so much as if I was her mother. And then... there's still... so much more... I can't even explain..."

Gadget couldn't go further. She dropped her face into her arms as emotions and tears broke out of her. Rebecca moved nearer, laid her arm around the sobbing mouse and tried to comfort her at least a little bit.

It took her some minutes to calm down and be able to speak again. Through her still wet eyes, she gazed at Rebecca.

"Sorry... I tried not to cry on my vacation. It's just... you know, when I'm at home, and these feelings start coming up again, I try to think of something different. Something technical. Then I lock myself away in my workshop and invent something. Be it of any use or not. Do you know why the Rescue Rangers have two aircraft? Our first one, the Rangerplane, was a makeshift device, but it has always been working fine, and it still does today. But one day... I can't remember what, but something has reminded me of my father. I was so close to tears that we had a new plane the next morning. I've dedicated the Rangerwing to him as another compensation for crashing his plane."

"See? Sometimes it helps just to talk about it." Rebecca smiled, and for a moment, the well-known enchanting smile returned to Gadget's face. "Now, would you like to tell me what's that 'so much more'? You don't have to if you don't want to. But if you want to—I'll listen."

"It's a bit hard to talk about that..."

"Okay, who is it? It's a guy, am I right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Gadget. Can it be that you're in love?"

The inventor mouse muttered her usual "Hmidunno."

"You don't know?"

"No, I don't know. Now look at me, Rebecca. There I am with my mind-bashingly high IQ, with probably more technical knowledge and engineering skills than anyone at the MIT has ever had, and I've never in my life learned what love is. Maybe it's because I've grown up all alone with my father in a remote place. And I was completely alone most of the time for more than one year from the day that my father died 'til I met Chip and Dale. Or maybe it's because it can't be explained with scientific or technical terms. That's about all I've ever known."

"Sorry about your father, Gadget. So I must suppose you've never had a boyfriend?"

"No. Well, Chip and I have been dating for some years now. But I'm afraid that it hasn't taught me anything about love. And I wouldn't call him a boyfriend... whatever exactly that is. I guess it's what Dale is for Foxglove, but how can I be sure? Aw, stupid me..."

"You are not stupid. Just a bit unexperienced, that's all. Say, what does it feel like for you to be on a date with Chip, just the two of you?" Rebecca didn't really want to know. She just wanted Gadget to think about it.

"It's... wonderful. When he's just with me, Chip is so much different from what he's like when he's leading the Rangers. He smiles so much, he has perfect manners, it seems like he's willing to do everything for me. Sometimes he wears a tuxedo, and he looks so good in a tuxedo. I mean, it's not like he doesn't look good in that leather jacket and fedora hat, he's a handsome guy just as he is, but in a tuxedo..." Gadget sighed.

"You mean, he puts on a tuxedo just for you?"

"Yes... well, at least it seems so."

"That's good, Gadget, that's very good. Because that means he wants you to like him." Rebecca yawned. "Ah, sorry, but I think I've got to have some sleep now. Keep in mind what we've talked about. And today, I'll take a day off, and we'll have a swell time. But for now, good night, Gadget."

"Good night, Rebecca."

Rebecca smiled, waved and silently left the balcony. She knew that presenting answers to Gadget's questions was not the right thing to do, she preferred making her think about it and find some solutions on her own. On the way to her room, she briefly glanced into Molly's room and found her lying in her bed and sleeping peacefully.

Gadget still stood on the balcony and stared at the stars. 'Chip wears that tuxedo just for me... He may want to look good for me... What other reason could he have?... It's surely not more comfortable than his bomber jacket... Otherwise he'd wear a tux every day... He said I'd look good in Rebecca's dress... Maybe I should really get one... and wear it at one of our next dates... It's certainly a beautiful dress... He'd like it... He'd like seeing me in it... I think I owe him that... For all the nice things he does for me... Maybe he'll finally tell me what he's been trying to tell me for more than 15 years now... whatever that is...' She picked out one particularly bright star. 'Oh Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris, if I only knew what he feels for me... and what that is that I feel for him... and why I feel so much more of it for him than for... for Dale or Sparky or... and if it's the same feeling after all... Golly, now I'm already talking to a star... Well, not really talking... It's rather thinking... Then again, I can't think to a star... So I guess it's okay...'


	14. Chapter 14

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**Chapter 14: A New Morning**

Only a few hours later, a new morning came to the city behind the cliffs. The first Ranger to wake up was Monterey Jack. He saw that Chip, Dale and Zipper were still asleep, so he carefully laid the little big fly aside and went on tip-toes towards the kitchen. That was when Dale woke up.

"Where do you think you're goin' in the middle of the night?"

"Errr... I wanted ta warm up the rest o' the cheese chowder fer us. Besides, take a look outside, mate. The night's over, a new day's arrived."

It was not before then when Dale recognized the sunshine outside.

"Right. And I wondered why the moon was suddenly so bright." Immediately after saying this, Dale received that day's first bonk on his head which told him that Chip was awake, too.

"Hey, why have you done that?"

"Because you've waked me up!"

"Lads, don't argue, it was time ta get up anyway. An' I wanna wake up me ol' friend Zipper with the smell o' cheese chowder an' not with the noise o' chipmunks arguin'."

"Sorry, Monty," both chipmunks answered in unison.

"You could rather 'ave a look fer Gadget. She may still be out on the balcony."

Chip opened the balcony door. Gadget was still there, lying on the floor. She had finally found a bit of sleep. Now he knelt there by his love, and he just couldn't wake her up. Fortunately, the morning sun did this for him as it touched her face with its warmth and brightness.

She opened her eyes. The first she saw was another beautiful morning, and immediately afterwards she looked right into Chip's smiling face. This sight made her smile, too.

"Good morning, Gadget!"

"Good morning, Chip!"

"Good morning, Gadget," came from Dale's head peeking through the open balcony door.

"And good morning, Dale. What's the time?"

"Breakfast time," Monty's voice called from inside. "Hey, look, everybody, Zipper's awake!"

Like Monty had planned it, Zipper opened his eyes upon the cheese chowder smell. Without even saying good morning to his friends, he sniffed, warped his face, took off and flew right after the smell in slow motion, perfectly miming one of Monty's cheese attacks.

Dale laughed, "He's lookin' exactly like you, Monty!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Okay, you're much bigger."

"Do I really look like that when I'm 'avin' a cheese attack?"

Chip, Dale and Gadget answered, "Oh yes!"

"Well, I guess this chowder would be worth it. But I can't get a cheese attack from somethin' I've fixed meself. Hm, gotta go ta the kitchen ta see if Zipper 'as left some chowder fer us."

His three friends followed him. And what they saw was just too funny.

"I guess the cheese chowder's ready. Look 'ow Zipper's already orbitin' 'round the pressure cooker. I think 'e couldn't open it."

But it wasn't only Zipper who was attracted by the smell. Suddenly, Rebecca and Molly were standing in the kitchen door.

"Mmmmmh, what's that scent?"

"Rebecca," Monty answered, "where I come from, we call it 'breakfast'. G'mornin', by the way."

"Breakfast?" Molly asked. "We had it for dinner yesterday."

Monty explained, "Well, lasses, that's the fine thing 'bout Cheddarhead Charlie's cheese chowder. Ya can 'ave it fer breakfast, fer lunch, fer dinner, an' fer in between. Jes' ask the policemen."

"Which policemen?" Rebecca asked in confusion.

"Seems we haven't told you the story yet," Chip remarked, "and as far as I remember, Molly doesn't know it either."

"Awright," Monty announced, "take yer seats at the table, everybody, 'cause soon ya'll 'ave a fine cheese chowder an' the correspondin' adventure tale!"

Not so very far away, Dawn van Zant was busy distributing the posters for the treasure rally all over Cape Suzette. Some of the most important parts of the city, such as the shopping miles, were already covered, and now she supplied the harbor area.

Meanwhile, the ringing of his telephone had ended a very short night for Baloo.

"Higher for Hire."

"Good morning, Baloo, this is Rebecca."

"Good morning, Becky! What's up?"

"I only wanted to tell you that I'm taking this day off. I haven't slept that much, and I'd like to take some time for my daughter and my visitors."

"Visitors?"

"The Rescue Rangers. They're still here, and we're having breakfast now."

"Okay, Becky, have a nice day, and say good morning from to the Rangers. Bye!"

Rebecca's nights could be that short more often, Baloo decided. No-one there who could tell him what to do. In a cheerful mood and with a boogie-woogie groove, he left the building and walked out into the sunshine...

...just to see a blond mouse hanging up a poster on the building's wall. Hadn't Rebecca said she was with her? And why did she suddenly wear that archaeologist's outfit?

"Hey, good morning!"

The mouse turned around. "Good morning, mister. My name is Dawn van Zant, I'm an archaeologist. Would you like to take part in a, well, treasure rally for me?"

Okay. So this was not Gadget. Though she looked like Gadget. However, there was a beautiful young female archaeologist standing in front of Baloo and asking him to help her in some kind of way. Again. Yes, he had been through many a situation like this together with his buddy Louie. And yes, it always made them swear not to do something similar again, no matter how pretty the next archaeologist would be.

But yes, life hadn't been as exciting if they hadn't broken that swear again and again. And yes, this archaeologist was pretty.

"Ms. van Zant, may I see one of these posters, please?"

"Sure, here you are." Dawn gave Baloo one of her posters. He seemed eager to join the rally. What she didn't know yet was that he was the bear who flew both the Spruce Moose and the Titanium Turkey—and who certainly was the top candidate to return the Marabou.

Baloo read what was written on the poster. Giant aircraft named Marabou. Built by Howard Huge himself. Lost somewhere in the Great Uslandic Desert, not far away from Aridia. Reward with a lot of zeros before the decimal point.

He looked at Dawn. He looked at the poster. "Okay, I'm in. I'll meet you at your office in a few hours."

"Why not now?"

"Gotta get a friend of mine before. He's an expert in such things, y'know. Besides, you're not there either, you're standin' here."

"Alright, Mr..."

Baloo took off his cap. "Baloo's the name, and flyin' is my game. Among other things."

"So, Mr. Baloo, until in a few hours."

"Oh, I suppose you don't need this poster anymore." Baloo pointed to the sheet of paper he still held in his hand.

"Why do you think?"

"'Cause we'll get this baby back faster than you can say 'I've got them flat-broke, sticky-shoed, no-banana boogie-woogie blues'! Bye!" And off he rushed, back into the Higher For Hire building.

Dawn went on to hang up some more posters. This bear seemed really weird, but he was so sure he'd find and return the Marabou that she had no reason to fear that Huge wouldn't see his plane again. Nevertheless, what would a treasure rally be without a bit of competition?


	15. Chapter 15

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**Chapter 15: Louie's or When Legends Meet II**

After he had made himself some breakfast to go as if he wanted to break a speed record in doing this, Baloo ran over to Wildcat's place, the old seaplane fuselage. He had to recover an aircraft from inside a sand dune, so he'd certainly need a mechanic to make it fly again.

"Wildcat!"

The door went open, and the feline came out.

"Good morning, Baloo, what's up?"

"Wildcat, I'm gonna need your help on an expedition."

"Okay!" Sometimes it was downright frightening how easy it was to convince Wildcat. "Where are we going?"

"First, we'll fly to Louie's."

"An expedition to Louie's? What does Rebecca say about that?"

"No, that's not the expedition yet. I need Louie's help, too. And Rebecca doesn't know it, she's taken a day off. Now come, we're in a hurry."

Baloo ran to the pier and past the Rangergull which was still lying there and jumped into the Sea Duck. Wildcat—still not having understood completely what was happening—followed him. He was hardly on board and just about to shut the door when Baloo gave full throttle. The initial acceleration was so strong that Wildcat had to hold on to the door lever for half a minute before he was able to make his way to the cockpit.

After sitting down on the co-pilot's seat, he asked, "Baloo, why are we flying so fast?"

"This is not only a treasure hunt, it's a treasure rally. Time is money, and in this case, it's also fate. Here, read this." Baloo gave him the poster.

"Uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh. Baloo, do you really believe in that Marabou legend? I mean, they're telling stories about it and such."

"Huge himself said that the Marabou exists. And now he wants it back. Besides, I can fly any plane, even if it happens not to exist."

"And you're sure we'll make it?"

"Wildcat. This is gonna be a mixture of Tinabula and the Titanium Turkey. Nothin' I haven't done yet."

"What if Don Karnage shows up on our way?"

"We've got no time for playin' with air pirates. I guess I'll just run over his ridiculous triplane and get the dents out of the Sea Duck later when the Marabou's in Cape Suzette."

Never before did it take Baloo so little time to fly from Cape Suzette to Louie's. The Sea Duck braked sharply at the pier, and Baloo jumped out. "Wildcat, stay on board and keep the engines runnin'. I'll be right back in a few minutes with Louie."

The latter was preparing his place for that day. There were few to no customers in the morning, so it was the best time to get everything done. Suddenly, the door burst open, and Baloo came rushing right towards the bar.

"Louie, quit whatever you're doin'! We're goin' on a treasure hunt."

Louie didn't even try to count how often he had heard some phrase like this coming from Baloo. It had always ended up more or less the same.

"Okay, Baloo, how cute is the archaeologist this time?"

The sound of an air taxi came in from outside, followed by a blond mouse wearing a long blue dress, purple eye shade, and a flower in her hair. The few heads in the building, all of them male, turned as she walked to the bar.

"Who of you is Louie?"

"That would be me then, blondie," the barkeeper replied.

"Hi. My name's LaWahini. You're looking for a temporary help?"

"Exactly. Well, lookin' at you, I'd say, strike the temporary."

"What do you mean?"

"Lady, when all the pilots up there find out that you're workin' here, this place will never be empty. Baloo, you haven't answered my question yet."

"Wha-? Sorry, Louie, I was a bit distracted and confused for a moment." Not without a reason, as LaWahini was the second Gadget look-alike he had met that day. And that day had only just begun.

"Again, how—cute—is—the archaeologist?"

"Take Lawhiney here, remove her make-up, and give her Katy Dodd's outfit. Cute enough?"

Baloo earned an angry glare from the blonde mouse. "It's LaWahini!"

"Yes, Baloo," Louie judged, "cute enough, without any doubt. So, what are we waitin' for?"

"Gimme a drink first, Louie. I'm seein' blond mice everywhere."

"No drink before a treasure hunt, my friend, otherwise you'll see even more blond mice. Okay, staff, listen to what Louie says! Continue the preparations and show Lawhiney where everything is! I must go on an adventure with Baloo!"

"LAWAHINI!"

"Whatever."

Baloo and Louie ran to the door where they almost bumped into another mouse. His outfit—an aviator jacket and a matching cap with goggles—showed that he was a pilot, too.

"Oh, sorry," Baloo apologized, "we're in a hurry."

"It's alright," Geegaw answered. A very short dialog between the best pilots of their respective worlds.

Outside, Baloo and Louie spotted Geegaw's plane. He had mounted pontoons under the Screamin' Eagle's wings and temporarily converted it into a seaplane. What struck Baloo most was the arrangement of the two engines.

"Look at this, Louie. One engine at the nose, one at the rear end. Where did he buy that plane? Thembria?"

"Believe me, Baloo. Even the Thembrians aren't crazy enough to build such an aircraft—or to use plunger guns."

"Plunger guns, right!" Baloo almost laughed himself to tears as he and Louie entered the Sea Duck. "Wildcat, take over the controls until I'm done with laughing! Thank you!"

So he did and let the Sea Duck take off and head for Cape Suzette.

Geegaw meanwhile found himself in a joint with a very strange charm. Crazy monkeys were the staff, the VIP table was built into a small boat, Tiki-style masks were mounted on the galleries, and on one wall, a kind of billboard was hanging. It turned out as the Wall of Fame, and it displayed who the best pilots were. And on top of it, Geegaw found a picture of the bear he almost collided with.

"Him? The best pilot ever? He looks like he can hardly tell the nose of a plane from the stern," said the pilot who had engines on both ends of his aircraft's fuselage. "It's my photograph which belongs up there."

Then his eyes locked onto something he seemed used to. Or rather someone. It was the blond mouse.

"Gadget? Can that be? Gadget!"

As he walked towards her, LaWahini noticed him. Obviously, he mixed her up with that look-alike of hers who came to Hawaii years ago and who spoiled her plans to become the queen rather than helping her.

"Gadget! Daddy's back!"

So this was her father. How perfect. Now she could take revenge, and she had someone who could fly her out into the desert to find that treasure and get rich.

"Daddy!"

"Gadget!"

The two rushed into each other's arms.

"Oh Gadget, I've missed you so so much!"

"I've missed you two, Daddy!" LaWahini knew that she had to be careful with what she said. She didn't know the real Gadget well enough to replace her perfectly, but that wasn't necessary.

Geegaw examined the mouse who he believed was Gadget.

"You've changed your style, as I see. No more overalls and goggles, but instead dresses and make-up. Say, you're really lookin' like a woman."

Was that now good or bad for her?

"That's great, my girl. You've gone your own way in life. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. Hey Daddy, do you have a plane?"

"Why, of course I have a plane, what did you expect?"

"And do you know the way to Cape Suzette?"

"Sure. Why do you ask?"

"Let's fly there. I'd like to take part in a treasure rally with you."

"Okay, Gadget! We haven't done anything together for ages, and I'm in the mood for some adventure anyway. Let's go, father and daughter reunited!"

Geegaw left Louie's Bar again and flew away, not even suspecting that it wasn't Gadget who was accompanying him.


	16. Chapter 16

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**Chapter 16: Gadget And The Amazing Pastel-Colored Evening Dress**

The real Gadget was on Cape Suzette's main shopping mile now, together with the other Rescue Rangers, Rebecca and Molly. They were standing in front of a store selling mainly clothes and accessories, the kind of shop which magically attracts women but has no positive influence on men. This was the place where Rebecca had bought the two dresses.

So she asked, "I'd like to go in there with Gadget and Molly. Would you like to come with us?"

"No," Monty replied, "you lasses jes' go in there, an' we'll stay out 'ere. Right, lads?"

"Right," Zipper and the chipmunks answered.

"I've never understood what's so fascinating about shopping for clothes anyway," Chip stated.

"You can forget this whole shopping quarter, Chip," Dale said. "I can't even find any interesting comics here. This city is as boring as—wowie-zowie!"

"Since when is wowie-zowie boring?" Chip wondered.

"Come here and have a look at this, guys!"

Dale had discovered one of Dawn's posters and showed it to his friends.

"A treasure rally? That would finally mean a bit of action for us," Chip said. "Well observed, Dale."

"Thank you, Chip. And this time it doesn't belong to the Pi-Rats."

"Slowly, me lad," Monty reminded him. "It's jes' a part o' the treasure that we can get. Though it's still quite a lotta bucks. Even divided by five."

"So what do you say, Chip, shall we do it?"

"Let's wait 'til Gadget is back."

It was a strange feeling for the inventor mouse to be in such a shop. Such a vast choice of clothes from casual to elegant almost made her dizzy. Most of her wardrobe at home was filled with identical lavender overalls like the one she was wearing. She wondered if they had such overalls, and she was absolutely sure that they didn't have any goggles. And she could still not grasp that she was there to get the probably most beautiful piece of clothing she ever possessed in her life—and that it was going to be a dress—and that it even mattered to her how beautiful it was.

A badger in a pinstripe suit showed up.

"Ah, good morning, Rebecca, and good morning to you, Molly!"

"Good morning, Darren!"

"So, what can I do for the ladies? Is it you've wrecked another dress, Rebecca? You know, it's hard to sell the same dress twice, and it's impossible to sell the same dress three times."

"Oh, nothing for me, Darren. This time it's for my daughter and for a friend of mine."

Gently but firmly, Rebecca pushed shy Gadget forward to Darren.

"This is Gadget. Darren, the dress of which I've bought two, do you have it in her size?"

"I must look, but I think I have. Would the ladies wait a minute? I'll be right back."

With these words, the badger disappeared to unseen parts of the store. The order had been spoken, and this made Gadget even more dizzy. She was absolutely aware that she was still dreaming and that whatever harm wearing that dress would do her, it wouldn't happen in reality; besides, she didn't know if she would dream on for long enough to have a chance to wear it. But she was about to get a new dress, and she still had nothing but bad experiences with wearing one.

Only one minute later like he promised, Darren returned. And he carried Rebecca's dress in Gadget's size which his experience rendered him able to tell from a few seconds of looking. "Here it is!" He carefully laid the piece of clothing into Gadget's hands.

"Come on, Gadget," Rebecca said, "try it on!"

Darren showed her the way to the changing rooms, but she hesitated.

"Now go! We'd like to see how it looks on you."

With mixed emotions, Gadget slowly headed for one of the cabins and closed the curtain behind her. 'They're expecting me to put it on right here and now. Hmidunno... On the other hand, what could happen during a few minutes of wearing it? And I don't want to disappoint them.'

She hesitated for another short while, then took off her goggles, overalls and t-shirt and put on the dress. 'Okay, now I'm wearing it. I think... I'll open that curtain now... no, now...'

The curtain opened. Darren gasped. Rebecca gasped. Even Molly gasped.

Rebecca was the first to get her speaking ability back. "Gadget, you're looking totally marvelous. Come on, have a look at yourself in the mirror!"

And then she saw herself. Even she recognized the perfect ensemble of the blond mouse looking back at her from the mirror and the dress which that mouse wore. The mice smiled at each other, improving the image once more.

"I've seen a lot since I've started working here," Darren struggled for words, "but hardly such an overwhelming amount of beauty. This dress is practically made for you." And he meant what he said, he didn't say it only to sell one more of those dresses.

Needless to mention how Darren's words made Gadget blush. "Golly... thank you, Mr. Darren. Yes, it's a wonderful dress." Yet still she felt a bit insecure wearing it. "But I'd like to change back to my overalls if you don't mind."

"Of course not, young lady. You're beautiful in whatever you wear, even—well, especially in those lavender overalls." Again, Darren spoke truth.

After Gadget had closed the curtain behind herself again, Rebecca asked Darren, "Speaking of those overalls, do you happen to have those?"

"Sure!"

"In Molly's size?" Rebecca hoped that Gadget didn't hear her among the rustling of the dress. She and her daughter wanted it to be a surprise.

"Maybe... I must have a look again. Would you please follow me?"

As Gadget left the dressing room, Rebecca and Molly were gone. Despite her highly sensitive hearing, she hadn't understood anything of what they were talking about. However, it didn't appear like something to be concerned about. So she decided to wait for them for a few minutes.

Said minutes passed, and Rebecca and Darren came back. Ahead of them ran Molly, dressed in lavender overalls with a matching purple belt.

The little bear stopped in front of the totally overwhelmed mouse.

"Guess who I am, Gadget!"

"I have no idea."

With excitement, Molly shouted out, "I am Ranger Woman! Defending justice with hearts and brains!"

Gadget lifted that little copy of hers up. "Aw, Molly, I see it, but I can't believe it."

And once more, the two hugged. Gadget was so proud of being a role model for Molly that it made a little tear roll down her cheek, just like the one leaving one of Rebecca's eyes due to that touching scene.

Letting Molly loose, Gadget still held her up in the air. Something was still missing.

"Ranger Woman, I see that you have no goggles yet. Would you like some?"

"Oh yes, Gadget, Ranger Woman would not be complete without her goggles!"

Gadget knelt down, put Molly back on the floor, and said with a smile, "Listen. When I come back to Cape Suzette, I'll bring you a pair of goggles I've worn as a little mouse. You shall have them."

"Will you come back?"

"I promise you that I will come back."

At least she would do anything to dream herself into the wonderful world of TaleSpin again.

"Thank you, Gadget." Molly smiled at her, and she smiled back, though a part of her rather felt like crying.

Her gaze shifted over to Rebecca who was just paying. "Rebecca, what are you doing?"

"I'm paying for Molly's overalls and for your dress."

"Golly, I can't accept that, really not." In fact, she couldn't afford the dress herself without ruining her friends' vacation.

"Gadget, that's the least I can do for you. It's for spending the evening with Molly, for even being her role model..." With a smirk, Rebecca continued, "...and to cheer you up and help you through the trouble with the boys."

This earned her a hug from Gadget.

"Rebecca, can you do me another favor? Take my dress to Higher For Hire, I can't take it with me now. I want to surprise Chip with it."

"Surely, I understand what you mean."


	17. Chapter 17

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Rally Starts**

The three ladies left the store and found the four male Rangers visibly full of excitement.

"What's up with you guys?" Gadget asked.

Instead of explaining her, Chip answered, "Just read this."

The inventor mouse read the poster. "So you're eager for some action, if I see it right?"

"Eager for action, an' keen on gettin' the treasure," Dale completed. "So will we go on that treasure rally?"

"Okay, guys, you got me. Before our vacation gets too boring..."

This made Rebecca curious. "What's all that hassle about?"

The Rescue Rangers showed her the poster. "We're going on a treasure rally to retrieve a lost airplane," Chip explained.

Rebecca laughed. "Impossible. Do you think this is the only copy of this poster? As far as I know Baloo, and I know him quite well, he'll know about the rally, and he'll have the same plans as you. And it'll be him who'll return that plane to Cape Suzette."

"Not when we register before him and start right now. Are you ready?" Chip yelled out, taking the challenge.

"We were born ready, Chip," his companions answered in unison.

"Rescue Rangers, away!" were the last words Rebecca heard from the Rangers running into the direction of Dawn's office, not far away from the bayside.

After a few minutes of running, they reached the office and found no other participant. So they opened the door...

...and were rendered unable to move for some seconds by the sight of a perfect Gadget copy in an archaeologist's outfit.

The copy tried to address to the five strangers, among them the original, gazing at her with their mouths wide open. "Hello! I'm Dawn van Zant, and I suppose you'd like to take part in the treasure rally. Uh, hello?"

The massive mouse was the first to speak. "Blimey!"

The perfect Dawn copy in the overalls was the first to speak in full sentences. "Er, sure, yes, we'd like to register."

With a bit of mistrust—they had been through some trouble caused by another Gadget copy in the past—they approached the desk.

"My name is Chip Maplewood," the leading chipmunk said, "and we are the Rescue Rangers. You do accept teams, don't you, Ms. van Zant?"

"Of course I do. Just fill in the names of the team, the leader, and the members here."

The Rangers did as they were told.

"So, Rescue Rangers, thank you for registering. May the best team bring the Marabou back."

Chip kept the reply brief to save time. "Sure... er... bye!"

After the Rangers had left her office, Dawn wondered, "Gosh, how come this Ms. Hackwrench looks like me?"

Outside again, Gadget wondered, "Golly, how come this Ms. van Zant looks like me?"

Dale supposed, "Maybe it's Lawhiney in disguise."

Chip bonked his head once more. "What do you think Lawhiney would need such a dull disguise for? And don't you think that she'd still wear her eye shade? And, above all, what should Lawhiney do here in Cape Suzette?"

"Stop arguin', mates, we've got a plane ta retrieve," Monty interrupted them.

"You're right, Monty. Let's go and get the Rangergull."

Chip didn't know that Dale had a reason to be concerned. And said reason was on her way to Dawn from the other end of the harbor together with Geegaw Hackwrench. However, Baloo used his advantage being a long-time citizen of Cape Suzette and led Wildcat and Louie along a short-cut to arrive before the two mice.

"Here we are, everybody."

The recent messages coming in from other pilots via the radio had disquieted Louie a bit. "Shall we really do this? I mean, those sandstorms over the desert sound dangerous."

"Since when do sandstorms stop us? They may slow us down, but they don't keep us away from a good treasure hunt."

"And what if the sand gets into the engines again?"

"No need to worry, Louie, we'll have the Marabou to fly back, and we can just put the Sea Duck into her cargo bay. So, eyes on the money and the Miss."

Still not having shaken off past night's gentleman attitude entirely yet, the bear held the door open for his two mates. "After you, my friends."

Upon seeing Dawn who had just put the Rangers' form away, Louie stated, "Baloo, you haven't promised too much. I'd go through each and every sandstorm for her. With the wind and against the wind. Though she's no vixen for a change."

He slid forth to Dawn's desk. "Hello, Miss..."

"Van Zant. Dawn van Zant."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Dawn," Louie said upon kissing her hand. "I suppose this is where we can apply for this little excursion to the lovely desert?"

"Slow down, Louie, I'm the leader of the expedition."

"Since when?"

"Since I'm the pilot, since Dawn has asked me, and since most expeditions led by you ended up in a disaster."

"So did most expeditions led by you, Baloo. But if you want to, I won't stop you. Besides, when something goes wrong, I'll have someone to make responsible for it. So, Dawn, where can we register?"

The archaeologist mouse gave him a form to fill out. Baloo entered "Sea Duck Crew" as the team name, and the three members signed with their names.

"On second thought, Louie, my friend, let's do it the usual way."

"You mean..."

"We'll have the archaeologist lead us," he said and entered Dawn's name as the leader. "We can't leave her alone here in this dull office."

"Yeah, she should take part in the action herself. And she knows the most about the desert and the treasure."

"How do you know?" Dawn wondered.

"Let's say I simply feel it."

"But... you can't..."

"We can't go on an expedition without the proper equipment, you're absolutely right," Baloo said, carefully yet swiftly lifted Dawn up out of her chair by her arms and put her onto her feet. "I think you have to pack one or two things."

Louie opened the door to the back room. "Ladies first."

Hurrying, but still being as charming as possible, Baloo shoved Dawn into the room while Louie got a bag from a shelf he had climbed onto.

"Wildcat," Baloo shouted, "come here! The more help her, the faster we're done." The mechanic followed his words.

While the four were busy packing, Geegaw and LaWahini entered, but they found nobody behind the desk.

"Er, hello," the pilot shouted, "anyone here?"

"Have you come to register for the treasure rally?" Dawn's voice shouted back from behind the door.

"Yes!"

"Help yourself. The forms are lying out on my desk. I'm currently a bit busy here."

"Okay!"

LaWahini found the Sea Duck Crew's form. "Look here, Dad. This bear wants to take part, too."

"This wannabe ace pilot? Well, I wish him a nice time searching the empty desert while we fly away with the Marabou."

The Team Hackwrench filled out the form and left for the Screamin' Eagle. Seconds later, the Sea Duck Crew came out of the back room, ready to go. Seconds kept Dawn and LaWahini from encountering each other.

Arriving at the Higher For Hire pier, Baloo recognized the missing of the white Conwing.

"Hey, where's the Rangergull? It was here when we arrived."

Wildcat tried to calm him. "Maybe they're on a joyride around the bay and the cliffs."

Louie, however, suspected the obvious. "Or maybe they're after our treasure, too, Baloo."

"C'mon, Louie, what chance can these rookies have against experienced adventurers like us?" Neither of the three had ever heard about the adventures of the Rescue Rangers who indeed were far past the cliffs and heading for the desert as the Sea Duck Crew took off as the third and last team.


	18. Chapter 18

* * *

**Chapter 18: No Time For Playing With Air Pirates**

"Baloo, do you think it's right to have me on your co-pilot's seat?"

Louie was sitting next to the pilot bear while Wildcat and Dawn were occupying two of the three passenger seats.

"I mean, Wildcat has always been your co-pilot."

A brief laughter came from Baloo. "Nice try, Louie. As if I would leave you alone with Miss van Gorgeous back there."

Some nautical miles ahead, a white Conwing L-16 was following the shoreline and supposedly flying right into danger. Dumptruck, one of Don Karnage's air pirates, was flying right towards them in his CT-37, sure to capture another airplane.

Upon this sight, Monty yelled out, "Air pirate fighter ahead! Do somethin', lass!"

But Gadget didn't react. Instead, she kept on speeding straight on at full throttle. Realizing the stubbornness of the crew he tried to attack, he decided otherwise and pushed his tiny plane into a break-neck nose dive and plunged into the sea to prevent a head-on collision with a much bigger craft.

"Gadget, why 'aven't ya done anything?"

"Monty, I'm not a combat pilot. Besides, being the first team doesn't necessarily mean being the only team, and a dog fight would have cost us a lot of time."

A few minutes later, the Screamin' Eagle arrived at the scene, sleek and fast. Catching up to the Rangergull was only a matter of time, especially because the pilot made no attempt to react on Mad Dog attacking him from ahead.

"What's that plane, daddy?" LaWahini had gotten used to her role. She didn't even have to memorize a name this time.

"An air pirate on collision course. I guess he'll give way first as I won't."

Trying not to remake Dumptruck's mistake, Mad Dog stayed hard for a longer time. But that meant for him dodging a bit too late and having his yaw rudder milled off by the Screamin' Eagle's nose propeller.

"As I told you, Gadget," Geegaw triumphed, "he gave way first."

These two pirate fighters were not roaming the skies all alone. The giant Iron Vulture was hidden within one of the few clouds. Don Karnage's mood was far more cloudy as he wandered up and down the main deck. He had watched these two embarrassing scenes through the open beak.

"Have my pirates thrown their little skills overboard? Or are only Sunday pilots flying around? Today is not even Sunday!"

He jumped into his heavily customized triplane, started up the engine, and took off.

"Why have I always to do everything myself? And why did we run out of ammo yesterday? Raiding without shooting is not at all fun!"

By far the fastest of the three planes on the treasure hunt was the Sea Duck, though it was not even running on overdrives. And it didn't even slow down as its cockpit crew spotted Don Karnage raving towards them.

"Baloo, do you see what I see?"

"I see him, too, Louie, but as I already told Wildcat, we've got no time for playin' with air pirates."

"Peek-a-boo, Baloo!" came from the radio. The bear grasped the microphone.

"Karnie, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm in such a hurry that I don't even have time to dodge you. Now get that bad joke of an aircraft outta my way, or otherwise I'll do that for you."

"You're not making me afraid!"

Then Don Karnage realized how fast the yellow seaplane ahead of him was growing bigger and bigger.

"Okay, a small bit maybe..."

These were his last words before he crashed head-on into the Sea Duck. Not much more of his fighter which was stuck to the Conwing's nose was still working than the radio.

"Baloo, you crazy bear-like person! Have you won your license in a lottery or what?"

"No, Karnie, I've found it when I cleaned the Sea Duck for the first time, y'know? Now could you please be so kind and pry that pile of junk that used to be your plane off my baby's nose? You're ruinin' her aerodynamics, let alone her good looks!"

"Sure... er... I'm slipping off anyways..."

And for the third time that day, a pirate fighter splashed into the sea. Don Karnage used the radio once more before it drowned.

"Scotty! Come here, pick us up, and then follow those insane pilots! They are all going into the same direction!"

Meanwhile, all three treasure-hunting planes, the distance between which was constantly shrinking, had left the shoreline and were heading for the desert—and the huge clouds caused by the sandstorm which many other pilots had reported earlier, and which piled up on the horizon.


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

**Chapter 19: Three Blond Mice**

"Wildcat? Dawn? I hope you've fastened your seat belts! If not, then do so! We're headin' for a rough ride!" Taking a closer glance at the wall of sandy turbulences ahead, Baloo added, "And I hope you don't mind sand intruding the Sea Duck!" '...and the engines don't mind either.'

"Baloo, why don't we just fly around that sandstorm?"

"If I remember correctly, it was you who wanted to go through any sandstorm for Dawn. And here you have your chance to prove it. Besides, flyin' around the clouds would mean enterin' the desert from the opposite side and losin' a lotta time. And I don't believe that those treasure hunters in front of us would necessarily do the same."

"Which treasure hunters?"

"For a moment, I thought I saw this pseudo-Thembrian plane." In fact, Baloo did see the Screamin' Eagle as clearly as it could be seen against the sand cloud having a similar color. But he lost eye contact when it dove into the cloud. And the Sea Duck was the next aircraft to meet an uncertain fate amidst tons of flying sand.

"Can't you at least slow down a bit?"

"No way, Louie. The faster we fly, the quicker we're out, and the less sand we pick up."

Soon, the view from the cockpit windows showed nothing but the cloud.

"Okay," Baloo said, "here goes nothin'," as he piloted his beloved seaplane right into its possible doom. The gale packed it the very moment it hit the cloud. The whole plane shook and twisted and tried to spin around countless axes, and Baloo had a hard time keeping it on its course, flying by compass and artificial horizon only as no other means of orientation was available. The doors and windows couldn't close tightly enough to keep the sand outside.

Four minutes of flying through a sandstorm seemed like an eternity. And everybody on board the Sea Duck was glad to leave it behind them when the blue desert sky opened up before them again. Even the engines were still running. Tiny sand dunes had formed in the cockpit and the main compartment, though, slipping about with every move of the plane.

What Baloo discovered in the corners of his eyes then struck him even more. On the left-hand side, the Screamin' Eagle had appeared at a close distance, and on the right-hand side, the Rangergull flew, its crew unable to see the Screamin' Eagle and especially the two mice on board since the Sea Duck was flying between them.

First, Baloo was glad that both planes had made it through the sandstorm without any visible problems, and that their crews were safe and sound. But then he realized that they were all after his treasure.

Louie took up Baloo's binoculars and gazed at something in the distance. Was it what everybody was after?

"Hey Dawn," he shouted back to the passengers, "what did you say which color the Marabou had?"

"Cherry red," came a reply. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I believe we've found it. The sandstorm must have moved that dune on."

"Lady and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking," Baloo announced, "we will be landing at Marabou Airfield in a few minutes. Please keep your seat belts fastened until we've touched the desert sand."

"Baloo, we've already got enough desert sand in here," Louie complained, "I can touch it whenever I want without even leaving the Sea Duck."

Almost synchronously, the three aircraft started to descend, got out their landing gears and touched down, stopping exactly next to each other. Two doors and a canopy opened, and eleven awestruck treasure hunters came out of their respective aircraft, not believing what they saw towering up in front of them.

It was a seaplane of sheer dimensions. Its near-cylindrical fuselage had a greater diameter than that of the Spruce Moose, and even between its formers would most certainly be a cargo space considerably wider than the wingspan of a Conwing L-16. But it was not as plump as the Moose. It was Huge's longest plane by far, outreaching both the bulky Spruce Moose and the twin-fuselage Titanium Turkey, only an airship would be longer. However, the exact length of this giant was unclear as the aft part of the fuselage and the double tail were still buried in the sand dune which had enclosed the whole aircraft before the sandstorm. The cockpit, wide as a command bridge, had been installed in a quite usual place right below the top.

When it had flown, it had been carried by only two shoulder wings, but these wings were wide enough to use them as a runway for a fully-loaded standard-sized cargo plane. And they would have to be detached in their entirety to get this monster through the cliffs of Cape Suzette. Each wing hosted six custom-made engines which looked like someone had made lightweight aluminum versions of ship diesels and converted them into gasoline engines. The name of this aircraft's inventor was not enough to describe the propellers with blades as long as the Screamin' Eagle's wings.

And even the faded red paint left no doubt: This was the Marabou. The largest seaplane ever built.

It was around now that the adventurers slowly finished with gasping and realized that they were not alone. First of all, Gadget spotted a mouse she knew well. A mouse she had missed for many years.

"Daddy?"

She left her friends behind and started running towards Geegaw.

"Daddy!"

The other Rescue Rangers prepared themselves mentally for watching Gadget soaking her father's bomber jacket with her tears. But as soon as she saw LaWahini standing next to him, she slammed the brakes and rapidly switched her mood to angry.

"What is this... mouse doing here, Daddy?"

"I could ask you the same, Missy," LaWahini snarled.

"You were after the treasure, right?"

"Yes, and it'd have made me rich if you hadn't appeared and spoiled my plans!"

"Lemme guess. Your so-called plans did not include sharing the reward with him, am I right?" Gadget pointed to Geegaw who hardly had a clue what was happening.

"Would you please calm down, ladies?" Dawn stepped between the two mice who both looked like herself. "Heated arguments lead to nothing, in the middle of a hot desert no less. So, what's it all about?"

LaWahini turned to Geegaw. "Daddy, tell her that she's not me!"

"I've never claimed to be you!"

"Three Gadgets..." Geegaw looked at Gadget, Dawn and LaWahini in total confusion. "I haven't seen my little girl for years, and now I see her three times. This one," he pointed to Gadget, "resembles my memories of her the most..."

"That's because it is me!"

LaWahini wouldn't give in, under no circumstances. "Can you prove that?"

"Anytime. Chip? Dale? Monty? Zipper? Come here and tell Daddy who of us is his daughter!"

The first of the four male Rangers to stand in front of Geegaw was of course his old friend Monterey Jack.

"Geegaw, me ol' mate!"

"Monty! Long time no see!"

"Yer not angry 'bout Zanzibar anymore?"

"Oh come on, Monty, that was just you, and it's so long ago now!"

"So, Gadget luv, why 'ave ya called me?"

"I want you to tell Daddy who I am and who these other two mice are."

LaWahini gulped. She had no chance to manipulate the Aussie mouse and his Ranger friends.

Monty put his arm around Gadget. "This, Geegaw, is indeed yer li'l lass. An' believe me, I should know it, she's spent more than 15 years with me an' me pallies. This is Dawn van Zant, the archaeologist who's organized this treasure rally. Jes' don't know 'ow she came 'ere, she must've joined Baloo. An' this lass over there is Lawhiney. We know 'er from 'awaii where she tried ta make everybody believe that she's Gadget an' Gadget's her jes' ta be crowned the queen of 'er village. I can't believe she's shown up 'ere an' played part o' that game once more."

"First, it's LaWahini for cryin' out loud! Second..."

"Think twice before you go on speakin', whatever way your name is pronounced!" Chip stood right before her. "Or should I tell everyone what you tried to do with all of us? Because if I did, I believe that some of the folks here would love to leave you behind in the desert when we fly back."

"Besides," Louie added, "shouldn't you be servin' at my bar now?"

LaWahini gulped again. Now she was totally outnumbered. There was no chance that she would get the reward for herself, let alone all of the money that was supposed to be inside the Marabou. But she still could escape. She started running towards the Screamin' Eagle, but she didn't get far. A tranquilizer dart hit her, and she fell into the sand.

Dawn clutched a blowgun in her hand. "You're goin' nowhere, lady."

Louie grinned at his friend. "I told you, Baloo, it was a good idea of hers to take her tranq darts with her."

Dawn smiled. "Thank you, Louie."

"You're welcome, desert bloom!"


	20. Chapter 20

* * *

**Chapter 20: Aces Of Their Businesses**

Meanwhile, Monty was still waiting for a chance to embrace his old friend Geegaw who was occupied by his daughter hugging him. She tried hard not to cry to save liquids.

"Oh Daddy, I'm so happy to have you back. I've missed you so much."

"It's alright, Gadget. I've missed you, too."

"You can't imagine how hard it was sitting in that plane all alone without you. I don't know what would have happened if Monty and Zipper hadn't come back, and if I hadn't gotten to know Chip and Dale."

"Chip and Dale?"

"Oh yes, you don't know them yet. They're friends of mine."

Gadget gave the two chipmunks a sign to come and see her father. They came and shook hands with him.

"Hello, my name is Chip Maplewood."

"And I'm Dale Oakmont. Hi."

Now Monty's chance had finally come.

"Geegaw, ol' mate!"

"Monterey! Zipper! Is that really you? How long has it been?"

"Too long, Geegaw, much too long."

This scene didn't stay unrecognized by Baloo. So he went up to Geegaw, too.

"Gadget is your daughter?"

"Yes, we haven't seen each other for many years. I was officially pronounced dead. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Geegaw Hackwrench, ace of the skies."

"I'm Baloo. Did you say 'ace of the skies'?" He remembered that what this mouse claimed to be his title was actually Kit's nickname.

"That's what I've said, yes."

"Now that's strange. I know every ace, present and past, from Rick Sky to Whistlestop Jackson, and I should know them as I'm the best pilot of all, but I haven't heard your name or seen your picture on Louie's Wall Of Fame yet."

"Did you say 'best pilot of all'?"

"Yes, that's what I've said."

"Now that's strange, because I am the best pilot of all."

"Ah, yes?"

"Yes! Believe it or not, it's my picture that belongs on top of Louie's billboard."

Gadget had to intervene. "Daddy! Baloo!"

"Can you prove that, you and that funny winged thing over there?"

"Anytime and anyplace, Mister..."

"Daddy! Baloo! You stop that silly argument immediately!" Gadget had to stretch out her arms and put her hands on their chests to keep them from getting violent about their status. Her years of living with the two chipmunks had taught her one or two things about stopping arguments. And now she was standing between the currently two best pilots in the world, and they were behaving like two chipmunks themselves.

The aces of the skies looked at the mouse between them. Then Baloo glared at Geegaw again.

"By the way, I was the first to reach the Marabou. So it'll be me who's gonna fly her to Cape Suzette."

"Prove that, and I'll believe it. Maybe."

This childlike stubbornness seemed to extinguish all of Gadget's kindness. She didn't even bother anymore that one of them was her own father. "Golly, you two aren't like chipmunks, you're even worse! Now listen. We've all arrived in the desert at the same time. And you two are such good and well-known pilots that it doesn't matter at all who's the better one. So either you shake hands and agree and stop arguing so that we can all work together, or Monty and I fly the Marabou back to Cape Suzette, and the Rescue Rangers get the reward! Was that clear?"

Dawn clapped her hands.

There they stood, the two absolute top pilots, and looked at each other. Gadget was right. This was not the behavior one should expect from an ace of the skies.

Baloo offered his hand. "Sorry, Geegaw. Let's say it's a tie, okay? We're both the best."

"Agreed, fellow aviator." Geegaw shook Baloo's hand. "I think we should join forces anyway to get this beast out of the desert before we get fried in the heat."

"Shall we fly her together once she's ready to go?"

"Okay. And Gadget—sorry for this argument. I think I was jealous. So who shall lead this operation furthermore?"

Gadget smiled and said, "The Rescue Rangers have someone who's born to lead. Chip."

The chipmunk in the fedora hat blushed. "Aw, thanks, Gadget. I'll do my best."

"Rescue Rangers? What's that?" Geegaw hadn't heard that term before, so Chip had to explain.

"The Rescue Rangers, that's me, Dale, Gadget, Monty, and Zipper. Our tasks are to rescue and to fight crime. No case is too big, no case is too small, and no case is too far away."

And they were on a case now. An unusual one, but still a case. Chip examined the situation and the possibilities. "So let's not waste any time. Gadget, Zipper, Wildcat, Baloo, you try to bring the Marabou back to life. Mr. Hackwrench, do you have any mechanical experience?"

"Surely! Who do you think keeps the Screamin' Eagle screamin'?"

"Okay, join them, and have a good time workin' with your daughter, by the way. Ms. van Zant, you have an eye on our sleepin' princess. Send her back to dreams or tie her up if necessary."

"No problem, Mr. Maplewood, these tranq darts keep her calm at least 'til sunset."

"Dale, Monty, Louie, we examine this plane from inside."

"Roger, Chip," Louie answered, "but we've got a little problem there."

"And that is?"

"The door is up too high. She's been built to float on water at a pier and not to lie in the desert sand on her belly. I mean, I could climb in there, but I don't think any of us can reach the handle."

"Oh, one of us can. Zipper, before you go with the mechanics team, could you open that door for us?"

Zipper saluted, flew up to the door handle and used all his strength against the sand in the lock and the hinges to open the door. Now that it was open, Louie helped Monty and the chipmunks inside and then followed them. Looking back out of the Marabou, he saw Baloo approaching with a toolbox in one hand and a long foldable ladder under his other arm to get upon the wings.

"Baloo, why haven't you said that you've got a ladder on board?"

"You haven't asked."

The two Hackwrench mice fetched their own toolboxes out of their respective aircraft. Gadget had bought her tools together with what was to become the Rangergull.

"Hey Gadget, do you think it's necessary to haul all our tools up there, too?"

"Trust me as a mechanic, Daddy. You can never have too many tools."


	21. Chapter 21

* * *

**Chapter 21: Inside And Outside**

After they had climbed up the ladder onto the wing, all the mechanics gathered around the first of the twelve engines.

Unlocking the hood, Geegaw mumbled, "Naturally aspirated. Please, be naturally aspirated. You're large enough."

He took off the hood and revealed a giant V12 mill, large enough for marine purposes, but heavily modified for the use as an aircraft engine. And it was not naturally aspirated.

Gadget remarked, "Looks like an engine can never be too big to have a supercharger."

"Oh great," Geegaw groaned, "another device that's caught its share of sand. I just love gettin' sand out of a blower." He unmounted the air filter box and handed it over to Wildcat.

Baloo added, "And remember that it was still running when the sand got in there. She ran into a sandstorm just like us. But she didn't have that much luck. So let's hope that ol' Howie was clever enough to store some spare parts in there."

He took off the upper half of the blower casing so that the mechanics could see what was inside. But the sand masses rendering the whole plant useless were missing. There was not the slightest bit of sand in there.

Geegaw wondered, "No sand? Not even scratches?"

"I've found it," Wildcat answered.

He had opened the air filter box, and he showed the other mechanics the air filter. It was entirely stuffed with sand.

Gadget took a closer look. "This air filter is fine enough to hold sand grains back. But when the sand got into the box, it had no way to get out again. So the box filled up with more and more sand until the air couldn't pass anymore and the engine choked."

More detailed memories of the Marabou legend came back to Baloo's mind. "Yes, I remember that the pilots have seen clouds coming out of the exhaust pipes before the engines stopped working. But that wasn't oil due to the sand scraping the cylinders. No, it was unburnt gasoline due to the lack of air."

"Which means that we'll just have to get the sand out of the air filters and give the engines an external check," Geegaw said, "especially as they've hardly ever run. This saves us lots of time. Baloo, you as an experienced aviator, don't you just love these situations of incredible luck?"

"From an ace pilot to an ace pilot—I sometimes rely on them!" Baloo laughed.

The examination team meanwhile found themselves on the lower cargo deck. It went from the nose to the stern and barely showed the treasure hunters the length of the aircraft. Width and height were not less impressive. Huge had been right, a Conwing L-16 would easily fit in there, though it would not be able to fly around like in the Iron Vulture. The sunlight shone in through portholes at both sides, and those which let no sunlight through were still buried under the sand. As the batteries were empty after all the years, no electric light was available, so that the aft part was barely visible. A large part of the stowage was filled with scaffolding parts, tools of every size up to disassembled cranes, wooden panels which seemed to be parts of barracks, and the like. All this used to be the Marabou construction site. Stairs led up to the upper cargo deck on both sides of the hull, right ahead of the two lateral doors.

Though they were visibly impressed by the Marabou's dimensions, the four were primarily interested in something else.

"So," Louie pointed it out, "where can Huge have hidden his money? Has anyone spotted a safe in here?"

"No," Chip answered, "but it's too dark in here to see enough. We should continue with a rough examination until we have electricity."

"And where shall we get that from?"

"Well, I suppose the mechanics may want to test-run the engines. And I bet there are generators connected to the engines. Let's go upstairs, we can't find anything more now down here."

The upper cargo deck's height was only limited by the shape of the fuselage, there was no additional ceiling above it, apart from the wing box and the bow area which lay under a third deck containing at least the cockpit and accessible via lateral stairs again. This space resembled a giant cathedral made of steel with its open structure. And as far as the sunlight was able to illuminate it, it was absolutely empty. Again, there was no trace of a safe.

So the four adventurers took the stairs up to the highest level. Most of it was a seated area. Seats in groups of two were arranged in ten rows on both sides of a wide middle aisle. As the Marabou was no passenger aircraft, these seats had been built in for crews accompanying the cargo. Each seat row had a window in the hull which was strongly inclined at that height. There were windows in the rear wall which showed the upper cargo deck, and in the front wall, there was the cockpit door which turned out to be unlocked.

The cockpit was as huge as it appeared from outside. It really was rather a command bridge than a cockpit, matching the size of the seaplane perfectly. Not only two, but up to four pilots could fly the Marabou at once from four swivel chairs. But as Monty found out, it could be piloted by a crew of one if necessary as the dozen thrust levers could be coupled.

"And even here's no money," Chip complained. "Any clue where it can be?"

The mechanics were more successful. After Zipper had approved the twelveth and last engine ready to run, its hood was shut.

"The engines are okay, what comes next?" Baloo asked.

"A test run, I would say," Geegaw answered, "and then the rudders."

"Most of which are still buried under the sand," Baloo added. "I'm not keen on shovelin' them out. Not in that desert heat. A pity that the sandstorm wasn't stronger."

"Sandstorm..." Gadget was coming up with an idea. "Yes... that should work."

Geegaw was curious about his daughter's possible plan and at the same time unaware of the particular meaning of the word "should". "What should work, Gadget?"

"We make our own sandstorm. We don't simply let the Marabou's engines run at idle, we let them run at full thrust, and they blow the sand away and pull the plane out of the dune."

"Yes, that should work."

"I don't think we can even start the engines," Wildcat interjected, "without any juice in the batteries."

"Wildcat is right," Baloo confirmed his friend's words. "This plane was stuck in a sand dune for years, and I'm sure that the batteries have lost their entire charge."

"No problem, Baloo," Geegaw said. "We'll start her with my batteries."

Baloo had to laugh about that. "Do you really think that the starter batteries of such a small aircraft have enough power for these giant mills?"

"Oh, they're not for starting my engines. They're feeding my engines."

"You mean..."

"Yes, the Screamin' Eagle is powered by two electric motors, so it needs powerful batteries. Besides, we need them for starting up one engine only which will then generate the energy for starting the next one, and so on."

"But it will still get tough, Daddy," Gadget remarked. "We'll need to get all the unburnt gas out of the cylinders before the engines run properly. Maybe this'll drain all power out of the batteries."

"That doesn't matter, little Gadget. I'll let the Screamin' Eagle ride back on the Marabou and recharge it during the flight. Now, what are we waiting for? There's a big bird to wake up! Baloo, Gadget, get your planes a bit away from here. Wildcat, try to find an external connector. Zipper, you can help me connect the Screamin' Eagle to the Marabou."

With this plan, the mechanics team left the wing. Baloo and Gadget started up the Sea Duck and the Rangergull respectively and moved them out of reach. Geegaw brought the Screamin' Eagle near the point under the wing where Wildcat had discovered the connector hatch, then he got an adapter cable out of the luggage compartment behind the canopy and connected the two aircraft with Zipper's help.

While Baloo went straight back to the Marabou and moved the ladder from the wing to the fuselage next to the door, Gadget headed for her two look-alikes. LaWahini was lying on her back in the desert sand unconsciously, and Dawn was kneeling next to her and throwing a shadow on her face. Gadget sat down on LaWahini's other side.

"Ah, Ms. Hackwrench. How's everything going?"

"Fine so far, Ms. van Zant. The engines are ready to run as far as we've seen."

Dawn looked down at LaWahini's face, then up at Gadget's face. She had started to cope with them looking like herself.

"How can a young mouse like her be so evil?"

"She can be even more evil, believe me. I've already met her once, that was some years ago. She was living on an island and trying to be crowned queen, and we were on the same island on our vacation. To cut a long story short, she had me do her dangerous tests which were necessary for the coronation, and she first tricked and then even tried to kill my friends. I don't know either what made her so evil. Maybe I'll find out one day."

Gadget stepped over to LaWahini's feet and grasped her heels. "We should get her into the Marabou now. We're going to do a test run at full throttle, and it'll be dangerous to stay out here."

Dawn put her bag on LaWahini's lap and picked her up by her shoulders, and the three blond mice hurried to the Marabou where Baloo helped get the Hawaiian mouse up through the door. Geegaw and Zipper stayed outside to disconnect and remove the Screamin' Eagle as soon as the first engine was running.

"Gadget," Geegaw asked his daughter who was climbing up the ladder, "will you make your father proud and start the first engine?"

"Surely, Daddy." She smiled and went upstairs.


	22. Chapter 22

* * *

**Chapter 22: The Beast Awakens**

Sitting on the passenger seats, the four explorers recognized the noise coming up from the lower cargo deck.

"Sounds like someone's on the Marabou 'cept us," Monty remarked. "I 'ope it's our mates. If not, they'll get ta know me."

Chip got up as he heard the steps on the stairs. "I better see who's comin' up here and alert you if necessary."

He was just right before the entrance to the passenger deck when Gadget almost bumped into him. They looked into each other's faces, and in the dim light, they could hardly see each other blush.

"Hi Gadget!"

"Hi Chip!"

Gadget wasn't sure what raised her blood pressure the most. Having run up the stairs, having the honor to start up the Marabou, or the close encounter with the chipmunk in the fedora hat and bomber jacket who was smiling at her.

"What leads you up here?"

"Dad wants me to start the first engine. Can you believe this? I'm writing aviation history!" She hugged him to try and cool down a bit which had the opposite effect on him.

Monty watched and waited politely and patiently for the hug to end before he shouted, "Gadget luv, 'ave a look at the cockpit! Ya'll like it!"

So she did, and she found herself in the largest cockpit appropriate to her size she had ever seen. She sat down on one of the center seats from which the engines could be controlled and chose an engine. It was the one opposite the Screamin' Eagle which was closest to the fuselage. She flipped the ignition switch. A lamp indicated that there was energy available, so she pressed the starter button.

Her sensitive ears registered the whining of the starter, followed by the motion of the twelve pistons and the first ignition attempts. Baloo, two floors downstairs, took a look out of the door on that side and watched the engine come to life. It spat clouds of gasoline which partly was burnt by the first hot exhaust gases in the pipes, it stuttered, it rumbled—and then it ran perfectly at idle, deeply humming and blowing the clouds away.

"Gadget, it's running!"

"I've heard it, Baloo!" she shouted back.

"Geegaw, Zipper, disconnect the Screamin' Eagle, get it away and come in, we'll start up the other engines!"

"Roger, Baloo! I'll be back in a second!" Geegaw yelled while Zipper disconnected the cable from the Marabou and flew through the door.

Having brought his plane to a secure distance, Geegaw was the last to get into the Marabou. He pulled the ladder in and went upstairs where he sat down on the middle seat next to his daughter.

"Let's wake up the whole dozen, my big little girl." Father and daughter smiled at each other before they started up the other eleven engines one by one.

Finally, they were all running. Geegaw turned back and shouted, "Monty! Tell Baloo to shut the doors and everyone to come up here! We're goin' full throttle!"

"Okay, mate!"

On his way down, Monty switched on the light on the passenger deck and on the upper cargo deck. Now the whole length of the fuselage was visible, however, no safe, just like on the lower cargo deck where Baloo had engaged the illumination.

"Hey, what are ya standin' around 'ere?" Monty asked the adventurers in the door area. "We've still got some free seats up there. Oh, we're goin' full throttle soon, so Baloo, you'd better shut the doors."

"Mr. Colby," Dawn asked, still holding LaWahini by her shoulders, "could you please help me with her?"

"Fer sure, Ms. van Zant!" Monty laid LaWahini over his shoulder and carried her upstairs. "Lass, after all y've done ta us, ya'd rather deserve bein' laid over another part o' me body so ya can't sit fer a week or two."

As everybody was upstairs and had taken their seats for the upcoming spectacle, Baloo gave Geegaw and Gadget a thumb up as the sign that the doors were shut.

"Alright," Gadget said, "here comes the sandstorm." And she pushed the twelve thrust levers forward to the limit.

The roar of the giant engines mixed with the whistling of the superchargers as 144 bucket-sized pistons dashed up and down in their cylinders. Aircraft and desert quaked under the sheer power that was released. A cloud of sand formed itself around where the tail was supposed to be. And slowly, the Marabou started moving forward and pulling itself out of the dune which caused a cheer among the conscious adventurers.

Baloo opened one of the cockpit's side windows and stuck his head out. "Yeah, she's got a twin rudder!"

Geegaw replied, "Great! Twin rudders are still the best!" As a matter of fact, all four airplanes which were at that site had twin rudders, the Marabou as well as the Screamin' Eagle and the two Conwings.

Suddenly, Baloo got struck by flying sand. 'Wait, here shouldn't be any sand flyin' around. We're ahead of the propellers.'

More and more sand flew up so that even Gadget and Geegaw recognized this phenomenon. Besides, something was covering the sun and throwing a shadow onto the desert.

"Hey Baloo, what's this?" Geegaw asked. "Another natural sandstorm and a solar eclipse all at once?"

Baloo gazed up into the sky and saw the source of all this. "No, Geegaw. It's even worse. Shut down the engines, you two." He pulled his head back inside and closed the window.

And there it was, performing a vertical landing right in front of them. The only aircraft which was even larger than the Marabou. It was the Iron Vulture. Its cockpit windows glared meanly at the giant red seaplane, and so was the commander of outlaws who stood behind them.


	23. Chapter 23

* * *

**Chapter 23: Piracy On The Sands**

Three things enraged the air pirate Don Karnage at this very moment. The first one was the obvious incompetence of his crew. The second one was the time they lost on a totally unnecessary capturing of a cargo plane. And the third one was the smell of the latest cargo they had robbed.

"I'm really not knowing what I have a crew for." He slapped Mad Dog on behalf of the other pirates. "Why haven't you told me that there was a cooling system on that plane? Let alone the cow painted on the side?"

"Sorry, Captain, we thought that you had seen it, and that you had your reasons."

"Now tell me why I should want to rob five tons of cheese! The Iron Vulture doesn't even have a cold-storage chamber! You know what happens to cheese when it's not cooled? It steenks!"

The bumping of the Iron Vulture touching down interrupted the dispute. Only a few seconds later, Don Karnage heard a voice on the radio which he knew just too well.

"Hey Karnie! Has nobody told you yet that the Iron Vulture can't touch down on land?"

The pirate captain switched from enraged to outraged and picked up his microphone.

"Baloo, you estoopid bear-like person! I haven't touched down on land, I have touched down on sand! Just in case you know the difference. Besides, I'm not letting anybody tell me what I can do and what not, especially not you!"

Then he addressed to his steersman. "Scotty, open the beak!"

"My name is not Scotty!"

"Not your beak, the Iron Vulture's beak! I want some fresh desert air down there when I go outside."

Baloo watched the beak open from the cockpit. "I thought he had enough for today after I knocked out his triplane." Then he left the cockpit and headed for the stairs.

"Is he so bad?" Chip asked.

"He is bad, Chip, he's every possible meaning of 'bad'. I'd love to send him into the desert if he wasn't already in the desert.

Chip, Dale, Monty and Zipper got up and followed Baloo out of the Marabou while Don Karnage left the Iron Vulture together with Mad Dog, Dumptruck and Hacksaw, all of them armed with sabers for ground combat. Due to the recent lack of ammo, even Dumptruck had to leave his firearm behind. Baloo and Don Karnage met in the middle.

"As I can see, you've brought new friends. Hello back there, it's me and my glorious self, the..."

"Yes, yes, we know it. So, Karnie, what do you want? A new formula for introducin' yourself?"

A certain scent struck Monty's nose.

"You are asking me what I want? I want Howard Huge's millions, now that I know that his monster plane exists."

"Chuh-"

"You want his millions?" Chip shouted. "Go search for them. We haven't found them, so you won't either. Oh, and don't expect us to switch the lights on for you." The Marabou's interior was dark again since the engines were shut down.

"-huh-"

"How do you dare be that cheeky to my awe-inspiring self? Pirates, get them!"

"-hhhheeeeeeezzzze!" A major cheese attack kicked in, and Monty raced towards the Iron Vulture where the smell came from. Dumptruck and Hacksaw drew their sabers to stop him, but he simply ran over them, knocking them straight out and sending them flying to the sides like bowling pins. Zipper followed him, but he stopped in front of the remaining two air pirates. Before they knew what was happening, he flew some eight-shaped figures around them, pulled Mad Dog's whiskers and let them snip back. As the finale, he hovered right in front of Don Karnage's face, grinned—and slapped him.

"Hey, what shall that be? I am the one here who is slapping people!" He drew his saber. "Mad Dog, help me get them!"

"Captain, I think they've already got us."

Looking over to his companion, Don Karnage saw a red-nosed chipmunk keeping him in check with a saber he had stolen from one of the knocked-out pirates.

"What are you, Mad Dog, a pirate or a chicken? Now fight!"

"Why don't you fight?" The chipmunk in the leather jacket whom the pirate captain had accused of cheekiness seemed to have turned even cheekier. He stood right there in front of him and crossed blades with him.

"So you think you can fence?" Don Karnage attacked.

Chip parried each attack masterly. "No, I know I can fence!"

While the leaders of Rescue Rangers and air pirates presented the other adventurers a spectacular fight between perfectly balanced forces, Dale got bored.

"In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm still threatening you with a saber, you are holding a saber, too, which you can fight me with. Or do you want your captain and my friend to have all the fun? Where's your pride as a pirate? C'mon, I'm even smaller than you!"

"Yes, you're right, why am I afraid of you? Take this!"

Dale's skilled parade to his attack made Mad Dog think that he may have underestimated his opponent. But now he was in the middle of a fight.

To make it more interesting and not to scare the pirate away, Dale fought a little easier and at the same time mimed a bit of extra stress. He didn't let himself be hit, instead he made Mad Dog understand that quitting the fight was not an option, but he hid most of his true skills. His fencing experience told him that Mad Dog was not quite used to this kind of weapon, and that he should have either trained a bit before or stuck to his CT-37 plane which was hung up inside the Iron Vulture so that the water could drip out.

Chip meanwhile had a harder time against Don Karnage. Both fought on the same level of skills, but Karnage's advantage was that he was the villain, so he didn't have to play fair which led to Chip being more occupied with parades than with his own attacks.

The only one among the spectators—treasure hunters as well as some air pirates standing in the open beak—who actually thought about helping his party in the fight was Dawn. She had reloaded her blowgun and was ready to aim at Don Karnage, but Geegaw pushed the pipe down.

"Not yet, Ms. van Zant. When these friends of my daughter's are as good as they seem, they won't need any help."

"Oh, they are excellent," Gadget said. "I've seen them fence many times. Well, actually, most of the times they fight each other for fun. But I doubt we'd be here if they weren't that skilled."

Nonetheless, all his skills couldn't help Chip when he was distracted by a hedge- or rather dune-hopping single-engined aircraft flying past right above him and Dale who now fought side to side. Don Karnage managed to rid him of his weapon, and as if that hadn't been enough, he tripped and fell over backwards.

The pirate captain put his saber to Chip's chest. "That should have taught you not to mess with Don Karnage, yes-no?"

Though still busy fighting, Dale realized the situation in which Chip found himself. He was quite certain that Karnage wouldn't harm him, but he decided that he could never be too certain—and that the fun was over now. With a single movement out of his wrist, he beat the saber out of Mad Dog's hand, jumped up and caught the flying blade in mid-air. Now carrying two sabers, he leapt past between the friend and the enemy, and as Don Karnage was not in fighting mood anymore but instead celebrating his victory, Dale managed to disarm him, too, and finally landed in the desert sand aside the weapon Chip had used.

A visibly surprised air pirate leader gasped at him in disbelief.

"Okay, Karnage! I've won against your mate with one saber. I've won against you and freed my friend with two sabers. And as you can see, I'm now carrying four sabers. What are you gonna do now?"

Chip got up. "Dale, are you cuh-razy?"

Don Karnage didn't even mind him getting up. "Er... what the chipmunk said."

"To answer your question: Yes, I am cuh-razy. And this should have taught you, Karnage, not to mess with a cuh-razy chipmunk, especially not when he's got four sabers in his hands!"

The pirate captain shook his head. "I haven't come here for fighting anyway, I've come here for plundering. And if I can't find the money in the plane, I'll do what I always do and take the whole plane with me."

Don Karnage's first mate Gibber came running down the ramp which was the Iron Vulture's lower jaw at the same time and whispered something hard to understand into his captain's ear.

"What have you said? Too big? Ah, what a lousy day. I should have read my horoscope."

Mad Dog, recovering from his defeat, asked, "Why, what did it say?"

"I don't know, estoopid! I haven't read it!" Karnage sighed. "What else can be happening on a rotten day like this one?"

Baloo and Louie exchanged knowing looks.

"Louie, I know that something awful will happen when he says this."

"And I know who pilots that plane. And I bet you I know why she has come here."

"She? You mean..."

Upon hearing a small aircraft engine being shut down right behind him, Baloo turned around and saw who climbed out of said plane.

'Can that be? What does she..."

"Louie! Baloo! So nice to see you out here!"

Words came hard to Louie. "Er... hi, Aunt Louise!"

"Keep cool, Louie! I doubt that she's here for us."

"Say, what are you guys doin' here in the middle of the desert?"

"Well... we've found a treasure... kind of, er... big one, you know..."

Baloo added, "And some friends of ours had to keep Don Karnage from stealing it. You remember him, don't you, Louise?"

"Sure I do, Baloo! What do you think why I've touched down in this oversized sandbox? Certainly not for sunbathing! Now where is he?"

"Can someone please try to get that fat mouse out of my Iron Vulture?" said person barked.

"Not again, Captain!" one of the air pirates answered, a bit whiningly. His black eye was a sign that he had already tried.

There was no need to do this anyway. Monty had finished his spontaneous snack and came out through the beak, pushing some pirates aside with two complete cheese wheels under his arms. Don Karnage stood up in his way.

"So you think you can get away with stealing my cheese?"

"Now lis'n, ya blighter. You're the one who's stolen it first, so it's not even yer cheese. An' I'm jes' savin' some o' it before it gets bad. You, sir, 'ave no clue 'ow ta treat a good cheese right."

The captain's hand went where the handle of his saber normally was. But now there was neither the handle nor the rest of the saber.

"You're lookin' for one of these?" Dale shouted and held up the four sabers.

"Was that all now, fate?" Don Karnage wailed out loud.

Of course it was not all yet. One second later, Louise L'Amour spotted him, and another second later, she firmly clung to him.

"Don Karnage, air pirate leader and dream of my sleepless nights, I've finally found you and your breath-taking self!"

"Can someone please try to pry that ape lady off me?"

"You know, you're cute when you're angry!"

"Air pirates—into the Iron Vulture! And start the engines! I'll follow you when I'm done here!"

The air pirates, including Hacksaw and Dumptruck who had woken up again, did what their captain said, piled into the air carrier and left him with his admirer.

"And I'll follow you wherever you go. But first I've got to say good-bye to my nephew. Wait a second, will ya?"

Immediately after Louise released him, Don Karnage ran off into the Iron Vulture which then started to close its beak.

"Baloo, do something, or she'll stay with us!"

"Why shall I do something, Louie? She's your aunt after all."

"Okay, okay. Hey, Aunt Louise, why aren't you going with the guy of your dreams?"

"He's tricked me out for a moment. But he won't trick me out forever!"

"So you're gonna follow him?"

"As sure as the desert is hot and sandy!" With these words, she climbed back into her plane.

Baloo foresaw another sandstorm and found it appropriate to warn his fellows. "Back into the Marabou, everyone! We'll have two aircraft takin' off soon, and one of them is fairly large!"

As the last treasure hunter had entered the Marabou's cabin, the Iron Vulture's vertical engines went full throttle and lifted the behemoth of aviation up into the sky to fly away from the desert. A tiny single-engined plane followed it.


	24. Chapter 24

* * *

**Chapter 24: Six Bags Of Wealth**

A while later, the three joined teams were preparing themselves and the four aircraft for the flight back to Cape Suzette. The Marabou still stood at the same place, two of the engines running at idle to have electricity on board. Baloo, Monty and Geegaw spent their time in the cockpit. Apart from getting to know the huge bird a bit, they were sharing bold adventure stories. Gadget and Wildcat made sure that the rudders worked, and Zipper had joined them because he was the only one who could get into the narrow cable channels. Dawn had tied up sleeping LaWahini on her seat and now helped Louie and Dale searching for the money which was easier now that the lights worked. Last but not least, Chip stood on one of the stairs leading up to the third deck. He had to coordinate everything except the intercommunication between the cockpit and the mechanics which Zipper provided when he was not busy examining the cables.

"Hey Dale, have I mentioned that you've got a great taste in shirts?"

"So have you, Louie, your shirt just rocks!"

"'Rocks'?" Louie was a bit confused about this word. "What do you mean with 'rocks'?"

"Aw, forget it. I just like it."

Dawn's voice interrupted them. "Could you two please interrupt your chatting about clothes as if you were girls and come here?"

"Sure, Ms. van Zant," Dale answered, "what's up?"

Dawn pointed at a hatch in the floor of the lower cargo deck. "What do you think can be under here?"

Due to his bar being frequented by pilots of all kinds and being a casual pilot himself, Louie knew a bit about airplanes. "Well, maybe some fuel tanks or cables for the rudders. I don't know, I haven't seen the blueprints of this bird."

Dale proposed, "We could ask Gadget what she thinks."

"We could also open that hatch and see ourselves, couldn't we?" Dawn said. "Besides, you're both wrong. I'm no aviation engineer, but I'm a bit interested in aircraft, and I can tell you that there are neither cables nor tanks down there. The cables are all running through the top of the plane where Gadget is maintaining them, and there's nothing a cable could lead to from down there. And there can't be any fuel reservoirs either. Not only haven't I seen any fuel hoses in between the structure leading up to the wings, let alone pumps, but it's also way too dangerous to store fuel in the bottom of the fuselage of such a big seaplane, one without landing gears no less."

"So, Dawn," Louie asked, "how do you believe that this baby has no landing gears?"

"First of all, it's too heavy. Imagine how many wheels would be necessary to carry it. It would rather need tracks than wheels in my opinion. Then I can't imagine there's any runway in the world that's long enough to allow this monster to take off or land. Water, however, is available in masses, another reason why this is a seaplane. And there's one more point: Howard Huge's three giant projects have all been seaplanes, and none of them has ever had landing gears."

During her brief lesson in aircraft construction, she had opened the hatch. A ladder led down into the lowest parts of the Marabou. "Entrez. Or what are the gentlemen afraid of?"

"I'm afraid of nothing, Ms. van Zant!" Dale was the first to down the ladder.

"And I'm afraid of even less, cutie!" Louie followed him, grabbing the ladder by the sides and sliding down. "Dale, can you see a light switch somewhere?"

Dale tried carefully to move forward amidst his pitch black surroundings. The light shining in through the entrance didn't reach very far. "It's so dark in here that I can hardly see anything. Whoa..." He tripped over an object in his way.

"What's up? Everything okay with you?"

"Yes, I've at least fallen onto something soft. Feels like... bags or such. Filled with paper."

"Bags filled with paper?"

"Yes. Do you think it's the money?"

"I doubt that Huge is crazy enough to haul his money in some simple bags under a floor hatch that can be opened by anyone."

"Well, at least it's hidden well, whatever it is. Come here and help me carry."

Dawn got more and more curious. Did she really help this bunch of adventurers retrieve a treasure? "Have you found what we're looking for?"

Louie answered, "We'll see what's in these bags as soon as we have them in the light."

Up on the stairs, Chip had heard Dawn shout. Was her team successful? He went downstairs to the lower cargo deck and saw her bent over an open hatch in the floor. It didn't take his Sureluck Jones-like skills to find out where Dale and Louie were.

"Ms. van Zant, what's up?"

"Chances are good that we've found the money!"

Dale stuck his head out of the hole in the floor. "Come here and help us get the bags up!"

Normally, Chip would never act on Dale's order, but this was a very particular situation. He went to the hatch and took the bags from his friend.

Six identical bags of unknown content had been heaved out of the Marabou's catacombs and were now lying on the floor, waiting to reveal what they held inside. As there were no more bags to recover, Dale and Louie left the hole, and Dawn shut the hatch.

"Now let's see what's in here." Chip opened up one of the bags, shoved his hand inside and pulled it back out.

He held a bundle of banknotes in his hand.

"This is it! It's the money! We've found Huge's millions!"

Farther up and much farther ahead, the cockpit crew had changed their topic from past adventures to their mission.

One special issue made Baloo worry. "I hope we've got enough fuel to fly her back."

"Me too," Geegaw replied. "I've never ever piloted a plane that was even near this size. I can't estimate the fuel consumption of this big bird with its dozen converted marine engines."

"Besides," Baloo added, "when she had been fueled for this flight, the schedules didn't include landing in the desert and having two of the engines run for an hour or so without flying."

Monty sighed. They had been waiting and wasting fuel too long in his opinion, too. "I 'ope Gadget'll soon finish the maintenance, so we can get outta this fryin' pan."

At this moment, Zipper entered the cockpit and demanded Monty to steer to the sides. He did so, and his little friend flew out of the open cockpit window to watch the ailerons move up and down. Though each of them was as long as a runway for a smaller plane, they moved smoothly, and they were easy to handle with surprisingly few effort.

Zipper came back inside, gave the cockpit crew an OK, and left for Gadget and Wildcat.

Geegaw anticipated a soon take-off. "Gentlemen, this was the last test for us. All we can do now is wait for everybody to take their seats and for our permission."

Two minutes later, Gadget appeared in the cockpit door. "The Marabou is as good as new now. Wlachally, it is new, if you don't count the years spent under that dune. What I mean is..."

"I know what ya wanna tell us, Gadget luv," Monty abridged her rambling, "everything's in workin' order."

"Exactly."

"Hey Gadget," she was invited by her father, "would you like to be our fourth pilot? One seat is still free!"

"Golly, you want me to–"

"Surely! I know what a great pilot you are. Come here and make your father even prouder than he already is."

"Oh Daddy..." She was so thankful for his suggestion that she had to hug him.

Heavy steps on the stairs and the wheezing of two chipmunks and one ape announced the return of the treasure finders. And they didn't come with empty hands. Led by Dawn, they had carried two filled bags each up to the third deck where they threw them onto the seats.

To prove their discovery, Chip pulled the sample bundle of banknotes out of his pocket and showed it around the cockpit crew. "Gentlemen, Gadget, -wheeze- this here money -wheeze- is a part of -wheeze- Howard Huge's millions."

Dale remarked, "If I ever get that rich -wheeze- I'll hire someone who'll -wheeze- carry my money for me."

"So," Baloo exclaimed, "nothin' left to do for us but get our planes on board and fly back. Geegaw, Monty, will you help me? And Gadget, can you open the cargo door?"

"Of course I can," she answered and toggled a switch which caused the enormous rear door to open. Geegaw went to the upper cargo deck to steer the trolley running under the ceiling and to receive the planes which Baloo and Monty brought in position one by one. Each of them was carefully attached to the ropes, pulled up and secured inside the vast cargo compartment. Before the Sea Duck was hoisted on board, Baloo fetched his ladder from the Marabou's door, stowed it back into his plane, and he and Monty sat down on the front seats to get back on the Marabou the easy way.

As Geegaw brought the yellow seaplane in, he saw them and said, "Hey you two, this is no elevator!"

"No," Baloo chuckled and pointed to the Marabou's twin tail, "the elevators are farther in that direction. You as a pilot should know that."

Few things were still to do before the take-off. The money bags were fixed on their seats using the seat belts, so were those of the adventurers who were no pilots, and the cargo door was shut.

Gadget got up from her pilot seat one last time to see if her passengers were ready, and she recognized that Chip had chosen his seat so that he could see her through the open door.

"Everyone okay?"

Everyone nodded.

"Oh, sorry Chip, but I have to shut the cockpit door at least for the take-off phase." She smiled, closed the door and sat down again while Chip sighed in disappointment.

Finally, the time had come. The pilots started up the other ten engines and opened the throttles. With its trademark roar, the Marabou began to slide again, constantly accelerating and blowing up large clouds of sand behind itself, and soon it reached its take-off speed. The four in the cockpit pulled back their yokes, and only seconds later, the biggest plane in the world was airborne and on its third flight ever.


	25. Chapter 25

* * *

**Chapter 25: Going Home, Part I**

The Marabou proved more than airworthy as it flew over the desert and then along the coastal regions of Usland. Turbulences seemed non-existent for an aircraft of its size. It showed the inhabitants of towns and villages over which it passed by that it was more than a fairy-tale's subject. Most villages were actually smaller than the Marabou itself. And though some airplane enthusiasts tried to wave at whoever was on board, they were not able to see it, not only due to the altitude, but also because a large part of the land simply disappeared under the massive fuselage from the pilots' and passengers' point of view.

As the sun was setting, the mountains which separated Cape Suzette from the rest of the country rose over the horizon as tiny shapes.

"It's always a good feelin' to get home," Baloo said.

"Yes," Geegaw replied with a bit of worrying in his voice, "especially because we wouldn't get much farther with the fuel that's left."

Immediately, Baloo's eyes left the horizon and locked onto the fuel gage. "Wow, this baby is the thirstiest bird I've ever flown. Gadget, you've examined her closely enough, how much reserve do you think she has?"

"None at all. And I don't think that it would be clever to fly upright with so little fuel left."

"Why not?"

"Because the rest of the fuel would run to the ends of the tanks and be out of reach for the pumps. The engines will only go on running as long as there's fuel in the hoses which means not longer than twenty or thirty seconds."

These words from Gadget made both Baloo and Geegaw hope that the respective other was as much of an ace as he claimed to be because it was going to take a whole lot of flying skills to get the Marabou past the cliffs.

Something else came back to Baloo's mind. "Hey, does Huge know that we're on the way?" He got up. "I'd better ask our little archaeologist what she has negotiated with him."

Peeping through the half-open cockpit door, he said, "First of all, I'd like to annouce to all of you that we'll soon approach Cape Suzette. And then, Ms. van Zant, what about Mr. Huge? Is he waiting for us?"

"Yes," Dawn answered, "I've told him to wait in his limousine at the docks. But I don't know how long he'll go on waiting. The sun is setting now, and I doubt that he'd wait all night."

"Does he have radio in his limousine?"

"Oh yes, I can call him."

"Alright, follow me to the cockpit and do that."

Baloo showed Dawn the radio, she selected the frequency and tried to call the Marabou's inventor.

"Marabou to Huge!"

Silence.

"Marabou to Huge, can you read me?"

Still silence.

"Mr. Huge, can you read me? This is Dawn van Zant on board the Marabou."

Finally, a voice came from the radio. "Say again! I've been outside for a while."

"Mr. Huge, this is Dawn van Zant, I'm on the Marabou, and we're currently flying towards Cape Suzette!"

"Ah, Ms. van Zant! This explains why I couldn't reach you at your office. What are you doing out there?"

"That's a long story, Mr. Huge. I'll tell you later."

"Is my money there?"

"Yes, we've found it."

"And which team has discovered my plane?"

"All three teams together. They've joined forces."

"Really? Now that's another surprise. Okay, see you soon!"

"Roger, over and out!"

Dawn gave the microphone back to Baloo and returned to her seat.

"Now," the bear asked, "does anyone have an idea how to get into the bay in one piece?"

"I've only got two, both of which are risky," Geegaw explained. "Plan A: We do a nice and easy approach over the cliffs. She'll come in softly, and the only things we'd have to worry about are the guns. Plan B: We avoid being shot down, turn her upright and fly through the gap with the engines dying off one by one."

"Plan A sounds fine to me. Let's see if the gunners like it, too."

Baloo turned the radio's dial to another frequency. "Cape Suzette gunners, can you read me?"

"Who's that talkin'?"

"The Marabou."

"The Marabou?"

"Yes, you've received it correctly, the Marabou. Howard Huge's Marabou. And we request flying over the cliffs. We're too big to use the gap."

Some seconds of laughter and a moment of silence followed. Then the voice came back.

"Whoever you are, do you really think we believe in that legend? Nice try, my friend. But be sure that whatever you're flyin', we'll blow it into smithereens in case you come in too high. Over and out."

"I should have known that you can't talk with those guys. And this baby's much too large to dodge any shots."

"So, Plan B?"

"Plan B. With all its risks. You think we'll manage it, now that we have no choice?"

It was Monty's turn to say something now. "That'll be one 'eckuva ride. Geegaw an' me, we've been through a 'ole lotta stunts an' aerobatics, but never with a plane o' this 'ere size. Let's jes' 'ope the gap's wider than I remember it."

As the cliffs came within reach, the Marabou flew straight on to get some distance for accelerating. The pilots were aware that it had to fly at high speed not to drop down when turned upright. But they couldn't fly above a certain speed either, otherwise it would be too hard to hit the gap and to decelerate the plane once it was above the bay. A wide curve was the Marabou's last movement before it headed directly for the gap which was still several miles away.

"Full throttle—now!" Baloo shouted, and Gadget and Geegaw who were sitting on the middle seats pushed the thrust levers to the limit. The twelve fuel pumps began to suck the rest of gasoline out of the tanks as the acceleration kicked in, remarkably strongly, considering the size and the weight of the aircraft.

LaWahini woke up at this very moment. For a few seconds, she had no clue where she was. But slowly, she realized everything. She was inside an aircraft which, telling from the engines' noise, was in mid-air. And she found her hands and feet tied up, the former behind her back. She herself was tied firmly to her seat. All she could move was her head, and turning it, she saw Dawn sitting next to her.

"Ah, we've woken up."

"Where am I?"

"You're on board the Marabou, and we're approaching Cape Suzette."

Meanwhile, the distance between the plane and the cliffs was reduced to not much more than a mile.

"Now or never," Baloo commanded, "roll her to the left. But don't let her get off her course."

Eight hands and eight feet made the yaw rudders and the ailerons move in a way that the speeding Marabou turned exactly around its roll axis.

Unaware of and unprepared for the cockpit crew's plans, LaWahini could not help but scream. "What's happening now? I WANT OUTTA HERE!"

"Calm down, lady, or do you want another tranq dart?"

A tranquilizer dart was not necessary. Dawn watched LaWahini pass out the split-second when the Marabou entered the gap.

"What was that scream?" Monty wondered.

Gadget guessed, "Sounded like my evil look-alike. Having a nice flight, back there?"

"Looks like we're on the perfect course," Geegaw remarked. "No collisions with the cliffs so far, though this plane is almost as high as the gap is wide."

Baloo was a bit concerned about what he saw through the cockpit windows. At first, the right wing tip reached over the tops of the cliffs. "I hope they don't mind us doing that. We can't fly much lower."

Then, after one third of the gap, the first few engines ran dry. And slowly, the laws of ballistics started to apply to the Marabou which lost more and more of its massive power and started to descend to the left-hand side.

When the giant seaplane left the gap on the inner side of the cliffs, all twelve engines were dead, and the lower wing had touched the water surface. Driven by their instincts, the four pilots rolled the plane back, got the wingtip out of the water and flew a round over the bay to decelerate and to try and restart the engines. They were still much too fast to touch down.

Howard Huge held his breath for a moment when he saw his faded-out red plane silently fly past the bayside of Cape Suzette. Only the rush of the air was audible since the engines were not running. He was glad to have his Marabou back, and he hoped that the pilots knew what they were doing.

The second round, this time with engaged airbrakes and the engines running at idle, was watched by countless spectators, many of who have left their buildings to be witnesses of a legend turning out to be true—and of the third flight of the world's biggest airplane.

On the opposite side of the bay, the Marabou finally touched down. With the help of its engines, it crossed the bay to land at a pier near Huge's limousine. With the handful of seaplanes lying nearby, it resembled a clucking hen spreading her wings over her little fledglings. The engines were shut down, and the lights inside got weaker.

The first to leave the plane was Baloo, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "At least we know now that she's a fair glider."


	26. Chapter 26

* * *

**Chapter 26: Going Home, Part II**

By and by, everybody else left the Marabou. Baloo, carrying two of the money bags, was followed by his old friends Wildcat and Louie, the latter carrying another bag. Geegaw held the fourth bag in one hand and his daughter Gadget in the other arm. Chip and Dale escorted LaWahini whose wrists were still tied up, and Dawn walked behind them with her own bag and her blowgun ready to shoot, in case LaWahini would take another attempt to escape. The last ones were Monty and Zipper, the former hauling the last two money bags.

Howard Huge was totally amazed about the happenings. His second giant plane had finally come to Cape Suzette where he planned to make it a part of an exhibition at the Museum of Aviation together with the Titanium Turkey. These eleven adventurers had proved its very existence and turned what used to be a ridiculous fairy-tale into hard facts. Not only could the Marabou not be overlooked, it also seemed to be even bigger than Huge remembered it, now that it was lying among standard-sized seaplanes aside a pier. And, what was probably the most important point, he had his money back.

Before the bags were loaded onto an armored truck which Huge had ordered to come after he received Dawn's call, he opened one of them to get out the rewards.

"As you've read on the poster, I've promised to give $100,000 to the team who brings back my plane and my money. Well, now I see that the three competing teams have joined to be one winning team with eleven members. That was a wise decision because if any of your teams had tried it all alone, you'd probably still be out in the desert and try to bring the Marabou back into the air."

Giving everyone his or her part of the reward, he went on, "So I find it only fair to divide the reward among all of you and give each of you $9,000." He certainly knew how to keep his wealth together. This deal saved him $1,000.

When he came to LaWahini, he stopped. "Hey, why are your hands tied up?"

Gadget answered, "She's a crook. She's made my father believe that she's me just to trick him into the treasure rally, and I wouldn't wonder if she'd planned more things like that." Her judging that way made it obvious that she hadn't forgotten their first encounter.

It wasn't common for Chip to do this, but he countered, "Maybe, but she hasn't done anything else bad during the treasure rally. She may have had her plans, but none of them were realized. Besides, if she hadn't been, you'd not have met your father."

Chip had a point. "Okay," Gadget said, "she has deserved the money, too. Maybe she was no help for us in the desert, but she brought me and my father back together, and the money shall help her start a new life. However, I'd like her to leave this place with the next plane. Precautions, you know."

After LaWahini had promised to do so, whatever her promise was worth, Gadget untied her, and she went away, hopefully to try and catch a plane.

Now the adventure was over, but Gadget still wanted to spend some time with her father. It had been a major surprise for her to discover he was alive, even if it was only in her dream, and now she didn't want to lose him that quickly again. She wanted him to stay with her and her friends for the rest of their vacation. Or just a few days. Or at least that evening.

For a while, she watched him, Monty and Baloo unload the three smaller planes from the Marabou, first the Sea Duck, then the Rangergull, and then the Screamin' Eagle. As his plane had received its own site at the pier, Geegaw came back out of the Marabou and headed straight for his plane where Gadget was waiting for him.

"Daddy, I'm so happy that you're here with me now."

"I'm happy to be with you, too, Gadget."

"Say, wouldn't you like to spend some time with me and my friends? I don't want you to leave now."

"Oh, I'd really like to stay with you. I've missed you, Gadget, and I've missed Monty and Zipper, too. But I'm afraid I must go now."

"You must go again?" Gadget felt like she wouldn't be able to hold back the tears slowly coming up. "What forces you to go? Where will you go?"

"I can't say too much, Gadget. I can only say that I must go right now." He gave his daughter a hug. "Good-bye, Gadget. And remember that I love you."

In her father's arms, Gadget lost the fight against her tears. "No, Daddy," she sobbed, "don't go! Please don't go! I've lost you once, and I don't want to lose you once more!" She held him as tight as she could.

"Gadget?"

Chip's voice could hardly make it past her emotions.

"Gadget!"

While she firmly buried her face in her father's shoulder, she slowly noticed Chip call her name.

"Gadget!"

She opened her eyes again...

...and found herself in her room at the Rescue Rangers headquarters in New York City. She felt like she had just cried. Her pillow was soaked with tears, so she realized that she indeed had cried. Her arms were empty, her father had vanished. Or rather not followed her back to reality. She looked at Geegaw's portrait on her nightstand and immediately felt like crying again.

"Daddy..." she said with a breaking voice and sniffled.

Several parts of the dream replayed in her mind. It had all seemed so real. She had been aware that she was dreaming most of the time, but it still had seemed so real. The flight to Nader's Island, the night on Rebecca's balcony, the treasure rally, the Marabou... She came to the conclusion that it was possible to build a human-sized Marabou in reality as well as a rodent-sized one, given appropriate materials and tools. Rough sketches formed in her mind and displaced her sadness about losing her father once more.

"Gadget! Breakfast!" her favorite chipmunk's voice reminded her of the time of day.

"Coming!" she answered. 'Well, in a few minutes.'

She got up and took a look outside. The trees still hardly had any leaves, but this allowed her to see the sky from her window. Between all the clouds, she could spot a handful of blue holes which let the sunshine pass. Maybe that day was going to be less awful than the ones before.

As she replaced her nightgown with a white shirt and lavender overalls, she remembered the dress. The wonderful evening dress which Rebecca had bought for her. She realized that she called it 'wonderful' in her mind, even if she was awake. Furthermore, she realized that she was not able to wear it at one of her and Chip's next dates.

Then she got an idea. 'I know where I can get such a dress.' It didn't even seem strange to her that she wanted to get another dress after all the trouble she had whenever she wore that red one.

Chip returned to the table where Dale and Monty were preparing breakfast and Zipper was patiently waiting for everyone to be around. "I think she'll be here soon."

Monty wondered, "It's unusual fer 'er ta sleep that long an' not be up by now."

"Yes," Chip replied, "but it's better anyway than when she comes creeping out of her workshop in the morning, almost being too tired to stand upright. Or when we have to wake her up at the workshop."

Finally, Gadget arrived at the breakfast table. "Good morning, everyone!"

"G'morning, Gadget luv! 'ad a nice sleep?"

"Oh yes, Monty, I've dreamed something incredible."

"How incredible was it?" Dale asked.

"You won't believe it if I told you."

"C'mon, Gadget," Dale begged, "share your dream with us!"

"Okay, guys. I've dreamed that we were in TaleSpin. We spent two days in Cape Suzette."

She told them about the cargo job to Nader's Island, about babysitting Molly which caused some concerned looks on her friends' faces, about the treasure rally, about the giant aircraft, and about meeting her father. She told them not few details as she could remember the dream very well. But she left out some parts such as her nightly talk with Rebecca and buying the dress.

That morning, the Rangers found no new case to solve at the police station. So Gadget took the time to go to the public library and print a screen capturing of Rebecca wearing her evening dress on one of the Internet stations.

She carried this printout to a friend of hers who was a tailor and asked her if she could make her such a dress.

After all, she still owed Chip wearing a dress at one of the next dates. Though he didn't know yet.

**The End**


End file.
